Not many planetary spacecraft get to shower off. But the Cassini spacecraft did – more than once. It flew through plumes of ice and water vapor from Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. The encounters helped scientists confirm that an ocean hides below the moon’s icy crust.

Enceladus is a little more than 300 miles in diameter – roughly the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Its surface is completely coated with ice. That makes it the most reflective large body in the solar system, so it looks bright white.

Much of that ice comes from more than a hundred geysers near the moon’s south pole. They erupt from deep cracks in the crust. They contain water vapor, water ice, hydrogen, grains of salt, and other compounds. Much of this material falls back on the surface. The rest of it escapes into space, where it forms a thin ring around Saturn.

The geysers erupt from a global ocean. It’s buried about 20 to 25 miles below the surface, and it could be 10 miles deep or more. Hot, mineral-rich water could flow into the ocean through fissures on its floor. So the ocean appears to offer all the ingredients for life: liquid water, minerals, and a source of heat. That makes Enceladus a high-priority target in the hunt for life beyond Earth.

Saturn is near our own moon this evening. It looks like a bright star, shining steadily through the lunar glare. But you need a good-sized telescope to pick out Enceladus.

Script by Damond Benningfield