{"id":15961,"date":"2015-10-31T22:19:59","date_gmt":"2015-10-31T14:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/cassini-images-just-a-taste-of-enceladus-flyby-science-return\/"},"modified":"2015-10-31T22:19:59","modified_gmt":"2015-10-31T14:19:59","slug":"cassini-images-just-a-taste-of-enceladus-flyby-science-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/cassini-images-just-a-taste-of-enceladus-flyby-science-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassini images just a taste of Enceladus flyby science return"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NASA's
NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft captured this view as it neared icy Enceladus for its closest-ever dive past the moon\u2019s active south polar region.
Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Days after a fleeting plunge through the icy plumes of Saturn\u2019s moon Enceladus, NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft is broadcasting tantalizing data back to Earth for scientists eager to address the moon\u2019s prospects for life.<\/p>\n

Cassini is not equipped to detect microorganisms that could be lurking in a global ocean buried beneath Enceladus\u2019 frozen crust, but the probe\u2019s instrumentation could shed light on whether the subsurface sea has the right conditions for life.<\/p>\n

In the final stages of its more than decade-long mission at Saturn, Cassini zipped through a wall of haze flowing away from the moon\u2019s south pole Wednesday. The flyby was Cassini\u2019s 21st \u2014 and penultimate \u2014 time to approach Enceladus, but Wednesday\u2019s encounter was the spacecraft\u2019s deepest dive into the plumes, which Cassini discovered in 2005.<\/p>\n

With Cassini\u2019s less than two years from ending its mission, Wednesday\u2019s flyby was the last chance to sample Enceladus\u2019 plumes, likely for decades. Although scientists are working on concepts for a follow-up probe to further explore the moon, NASA has not approved a mission.<\/p>\n

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Spaceflight Now members can read a transcript of our full interview with Jonathan Lunine. Become a member today and support our coverage.<\/h6>\n
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\u201cI think we\u2019ll get superb data, and I\u2019m looking forward to discovering some new molecules in the plume, and some new things about the icy grains that are there,\u201d said Jonathan Lunine, a member of Cassini\u2019s science team at Cornell University. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be really high quality data, better than we\u2019ve gotten before.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we also know that this is going to create a new set of questions, as any good data set does,\u201d said Lunine, who specializes in the outer solar system\u2019s icy bodies and has a research interest in the search for life. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be able to go back with Cassini and say we\u2019re going to do another plume passage to address those questions, so that\u2019s a little tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cassini
Cassini closest views of Enceladus during the Oct. 28 flyby were captured in nighttime, but reflected light from Saturn illuminated the moon\u2019s icy surface. The spacecraft\u2019s high speed also caused \u2014 as expected \u2014 the images to be smeared, requiring image processing to sharpen the views. This processed image was acquired at a distance of approximately 77 miles (124 kilometers) from Enceladus. Image scale is 49 feet (15 meters) per pixel. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zipping just 30 miles from the surface, Cassini sped past Enceladus at 19,000 mph, with its sensors primed to measure the composition of gas and ice particles launched from the underground ocean. Cassini\u2019s cameras also trained on the moon, collecting the closest ever views of Enceladus\u2019 chaotic crust, capturing views scientists hoped would help reveal whether the geyser-like eruptions come from long fissures or from a number of discrete vents.<\/p>\n

NASA released the first images from the flyby Friday, showing distinguishable \u201ctiger stripes\u201d coursing across the moon\u2019s southern hemisphere, features believed to be related to the eruptions. Ground teams used computer processing to clean up smear caused by Cassini\u2019s lightning fast flyby, producing close-up view of Enceladus taken just 77 miles (124 kilometers) above its surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cCassini\u2019s stunning images are providing us a quick look at Enceladus from this ultra-close flyby, but some of the most exciting science is yet to come,\u201d said Linda Spilker, the mission\u2019s project scientist at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.<\/p>\n

Scientists are looking for a detection of molecular hydrogen in the plumes, a measurement that would help verify suspected hydrothermal activity at the floor of Enceladus\u2019 ocean, a discovery experts say could fuel alien microbes. But a negative detection of hydrogen would not rule out hydrothermal activity, according to Lunine.<\/p>\n

\"Cassini
Cassini captured this image of Enceladus and Saturn\u2019s rings after the Oct. 28 flyby. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHydrogen is very reactive, and if it\u2019s made at the base of the ocean \u2014 if indeed it is made there \u2014 it\u2019s quite possible that it reacts with some other molecules or possibly even gets eaten up by life if life is present,\u201d Lunine said in an interview with Spaceflight Now before Wednesday\u2019s flyby. \u201cEven in the case of the Earth, one often doesn\u2019t measure as much hydrogen at these tantalizing hydrothermal systems as one would expect. So we\u2019ll look for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassini was also primed to look for more complex carbon-bearing organic molecules embedded in the plumes.<\/p>\n

A final flyby of Enceladus is set for Dec. 19, but Cassini\u2019s trajectory will take it farther from the moon during that encounter.<\/p>\n

Cassini will make a final series of flybys of Saturn\u2019s largest moon Titan next year, then shift its ever-changing orbit to pass between Saturn and its huge ring system for the first time, gaining unprecedented observations close to Saturn\u2019s pale yellow atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Running low on fuel after nearly 20 years in space, Cassini will dive into Saturn in September 2017 to end the mission.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

<\/h3>\n

Saturn: Exploring the Ringed Planet<\/h3>\n

Find out more about Enceladus in this 196-page special edition from Astronomy Now<\/em>. Order online.<\/p>\n

\"20151028-Saturn-Special-Preview-with-Enceladus\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft captured this view as it neared icy Enceladus for its closest-ever dive past the moon\u2019s active south polar region.Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute Days after a fleeting plunge through the icy plumes of Saturn\u2019s moon Enceladus, NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft is broadcasting tantalizing data back to Earth for scientists eager to address the moon\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1874,2394,1559,1562],"class_list":["post-15961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astrobiology","tag-cassini","tag-enceladus","tag-saturn"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}