Definition
Enceladus is one of the midsized icy satellites of Saturn. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1789. Its distance to Saturn is 238,100 km or about four Saturnian radii. Its diameter is 500 km and its density is 1.0 g/cm3, corresponding to water ice. With an albedo of 0.9, Enceladus is the brightest object known in the solar system; such a high albedo results in very low surface temperature (∼70 K).
Overview
The exploration of Enceladus started with the Voyager missions. The first images of Voyager 1, taken in December 1980, already indicated a bright and young surface with relatively few craters. Voyager 2, in August 1981, not only confirmed this result but also provided evidence for tectonic activity, which was totally unexpected on such a small object. These results raised the interest of scientists who considered Enceladus as a prime objective for the Cassini mission.
The exploration of Enceladus by Cassini started in 2005 with a series of flybys; the closest ones...
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References and Further Reading
Brown RH et al (2006) Composition and physical properties of Enceladus’ surface. Science 311:1425–1428
Castillo JC et al (2006) A new understanding of the internal evolution of Saturn’s icy satellites from Cassini observations, 37th annual lunar and planetary science conference, Abstract 2200
Dougherty MK et al (2006) Identification of a dynamic atmosphere at Enceladus with the Cassini magnetometer. Science 311:1406–1409
Hansen JC et al (2006) Enceladus water vapor plume. Science 311:1422–1425
Porco CC et al (2006) Cassini observes the south pole of Enceladus. Science 311:1393–1401
Smith BA et al (1982) A new look at the saturn system: the voyager 2 images. Science 215:504–537
Spahn F et al (2006) Cassini dust measurements at Enceladus and implications for the origin of the E-ring. Science 311:1416–1418
Terrile RJ, Cook AF (1981) Enceladus: “Evolution and possible relationship with Saturn’s E-ring”, 12th annual lunar and planetary science conference, Abstract 428
Waite JH et al (2006) Cassini ion and mass spectrometer: Enceladus plume composition and structure. Science 311:1419–1422
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Encrenaz, T. (2014). Enceladus. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_510-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_510-3
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Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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