Case builds for water on Saturn moon

**HorseArcher** · February 06, 2008, 10:16 PM

PARIS (AFP) - Astrophysicists in Germany say they can add evidence to bolster theories that water, one of the precious ingredients for life, exists on the Saturnian moon Enceladus.

A tiny satellite measuring just 504 kilometres (315 miles) across, Enceladus has become one of the most fiercely debated objects in the Solar System, thanks to close-up pictures taken by the US probe Cassini.
Enceladus has a brilliant white shell of ice that is untouched except for some strange-looking grooves and impacts from space rocks.
Cassini revealed plumes of water vapour that gush from surface stripes near its south pole, shooting crystal jets upwards for hundreds of kilometres (miles) into space.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080206...pacesaturnmoon

**Medicus** · February 07, 2008, 03:58 AM

Originally Posted by Davy Jones

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080206...pacesaturnmoon

That's nice. We'll just have to wait ten years for NASA to send a probe there, and another seven for it to get there.

**DimondLight** · February 07, 2008, 05:46 AM

Enceladus has a surface temperature of -193 degrees Celsius (-315 degrees Fahrenheit) and the tiger stripes are -133 C (-207 F), which implies that its interior must be warmer still.

Sounds like a welcoming place.