The Cassini spacecraft has discovered giant geysers on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The geysers jet out at a distance three times the size of the moon. There are ice grains and water vapor jetting from an underground water reservoir beneath the surface of Enceladus. At about 32° F., water, ice, and water vapor mingle. The water vapor escapes through cracks in the ice crust at a speed of 650 to 1,100 miles per hour. Ten percent of the vapor reaches the escape velocity for Enceladus (536 mph). The material gets caught by Saturn’s gravitational field and adds to the mass of Saturn’s E-ring.

The geysers emanate from four jet sources in giant fissures called “tiger stripes”. The fissures are warmer than any other areas of Enceladus. The warmest regions of the “tiger stripes” match two of the plumes seen in Cassini images. They are located in the southern polar region of Enceladus.

Cassini flew into a plume and sampled it. Scientists were surprised to discover the chemistry of the material coming out of Enceladus resembles a comet. It’s like carbonated water with an essence of natural gas. Cassini’s Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer saw a high density of volatile gasses, water vapor, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and organic materials, 20 times denser than expected. Cassini’s next scheduled pass by Enceladus is in August.