The US National Aeronual and Cosmic Space Studies (NASA) reports that scientists managed to get new data on the structure of the ENCELAD — sixth largest satellite Saturn.
Entezelad was opened back in 1789 by William Gershel. However, this geologically active moon of Saturn remained little studied until the beginning of the 1980s, when two interplanetary probes came closer to it «Voyager». Their pictures made it possible to determine the diameter of the satellite (about 500 km) and discover that the surface of the Enzeladum reflects almost the entire sunlight falling on it.
In 2015, NASA experts announced that the global ocean is hidden under the surface of Enzelad, covering the entire Square Square. This conclusion was made on the basis of data obtained from the Cassini interplanetary station. According to the results of the research, the ocean with liquid water is located between the solid core.
And now it is reported that this global reservoir in the southern polar region is much closer to the surface of the satellite than previously expected. It is about 3–5 km. Moreover, the collected data indicate that the ocean is quite warm, which means that it may exist in it to maintain life.
Thanks to the station «Kassini» Scientists received a lot of important information about Entzelad and high -quality pictures of the surface of this Saturnian moon. The photographs clearly see various types of landscape. In particular, in the North Pole of Enzelad there are craters of different sizes, intersecting crevices and ribbed areas.
Source:
- NASA.GOV