![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2015\/11\/sampling_the_ocean_on_enceladus\/15662811-1-eng-GB\/Sampling_the_ocean_on_Enceladus_small.jpg\")
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\nThe Cassini spacecraft captured this view<\/a> of Saturn\u2019s icy moon Enceladus as it approached for its closest-ever flyby of the moon’s active south polar region.\n<\/p>\n \nThe spacecraft flew about 49 km above the surface through the towering plumes of ice, water vapour and organic molecules spraying from that region. Previous flybys have sampled the plume<\/a> but the low altitude of this close encounter was devised partly to provide greater sensitivity to heavier, more massive molecules, including organics. \n<\/p>\n \nStudies with Cassini have shown that beneath the moon\u2019s icy exterior lies a global ocean<\/a> heated in part by tidal forces from Saturn and its moon Dione<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nScientists will use the new information gathered during this dive through the plume to gain insights about how habitable the ocean environment may be for simple forms of life, and to study the chemistry and composition of the plume.\n<\/p>\n \nIn this view of the moon, the heavily cratered northern latitudes at the top transition to fractured, wrinkled terrain in the middle and southern latitudes. The wavy boundary of the moon\u2019s active south polar region \u2013 Cassini’s destination for this flyby \u2013 is visible at the bottom, where it disappears into wintry darkness.\n<\/p>\n \nThis image of the Saturn-facing side of the moon was taken with the narrow-angle camera on 28 October 2015 when Cassini was at a distance of some 96 000 km from Enceladus. The image scale is 578 m per pixel.\n<\/p>\n \nMore images from the \u2018plume dive\u2019 can be viewed on the JPL website<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nThe Cassini\u2013Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA and ASI, the Italian space agency. NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the mission for NASA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \t\t\t\t\t \nThe Cassini spacecraft captured this view<\/a> of Saturn\u2019s icy moon Enceladus as it approached for its closest-ever flyby of the moon’s active south polar region.\n<\/p>\n \nThe spacecraft flew about 49 km above the surface through the towering plumes of ice, water vapour and organic molecules spraying from that region. Previous flybys have sampled the plume<\/a> but the low altitude of this close encounter was devised partly to provide greater sensitivity to heavier, more massive molecules, including organics. \n<\/p>\n \nStudies with Cassini have shown that beneath the moon\u2019s icy exterior lies a global ocean<\/a> heated in part by tidal forces from Saturn and its moon Dione<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nScientists will use the new information gathered during this dive through the plume to gain insights about how habitable the ocean environment may be for simple forms of life, and to study the chemistry and composition of the plume.\n<\/p>\n \nIn this view of the moon, the heavily cratered northern latitudes at the top transition to fractured, wrinkled terrain in the middle and southern latitudes. The wavy boundary of the moon\u2019s active south polar region \u2013 Cassini’s destination for this flyby \u2013 is visible at the bottom, where it disappears into wintry darkness.\n<\/p>\n \nThis image of the Saturn-facing side of the moon was taken with the narrow-angle camera on 28 October 2015 when Cassini was at a distance of some 96 000 km from Enceladus. The image scale is 578 m per pixel.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n