James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post


Flickr
Date: 5/30/2023

Enceladus Plume (Webb [NIRSpec] and Cassini Image)


The Webb telescope has spotted a massive water emission from Saturn's moon Enceladus, spanning over 6000 miles (9650 km) and gushing out at 79 gallons per second (about 299 liters per second). Here, Webb's data shows Enceladus as a white pixel. (Cassini’s image of Enceladus is provided as reference.) Compare that white pixel to the size of the water jet extending out from it! Enceladus is one of the most intriguing objects in the search for signs of life beyond our own planet. Under its icy crust lies a global ocean of salty water. Jets, supplied by that ocean, gush from the surface of the moon and feed into Saturn and its rings. Webb’s discovery provides new insight into how Enceladus' plumes act as a sort of sprinkler system. As the moon orbits, it is constantly spitting off water, leaving behind a water “donut” around Saturn. Analyzing Webb data, astronomers believe only about 30% of the water stays within that “donut." The other 70% gets supplied to Saturn and its rings. Learn more: go.nasa.gov/45E2x9i This image: An image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) shows a water vapor plume jetting from the southern pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, extending out more than 20 times the size of the moon itself. The inset, an image from the Cassini orbiter, emphasizes how small Enceladus appears in the Webb image compared to the water plume. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Geronimo Villanueva (NASA-GSFC). Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI) Image description: A two-part graphic on a black background. In a small box at top left, there is a clear image of Saturn's moon Enceladus, shown as a bright white-gray sphere. It is labeled “Enceladus (Cassini)” based on the spacecraft that captured it. The rest of the graphic shows Webb’s data of Enceladus and a large water plume. The data is presented as a blue, pixelated square that appears rotated at an angle. At the bottom is the label: “plume (Webb).” The box at top left with the Cassini image has a line drawn to a red box surrounding a single white pixel in the Webb data. The entire moon is represented by that outlined pixel. Below the pixel representing Enceladus is a large, roughly triangular-shaped area of brighter blue pixels, which is narrower near the moon and gets wider as it extends to the bottom of the Webb image. This shows a water vapor plume extending from the moon’s southern pole. Image & Description by NASA