Enceladus' Water Vapor Plume

@article{Hansen2006EnceladusWV,
  title={Enceladus' Water Vapor Plume},
  author={Candice J. Hansen and Larry W. Esposito and A. Ian F. Stewart and Joshua E. Colwell and Amanda R. Hendrix and Wayne R. Pryor and Donald E. Shemansky and Robert A. West},
  journal={Science},
  year={2006},
  volume={311},
  pages={1422 - 1425}
}
The Cassini spacecraft flew close to Saturn's small moon Enceladus three times in 2005. Cassini's UltraViolet Imaging Spectrograph observed stellar occultations on two flybys and confirmed the existence, composition, and regionally confined nature of a water vapor plume in the south polar region of Enceladus. This plume provides an adequate amount of water to resupply losses from Saturn's E ring and to be the dominant source of the neutral OH and atomic oxygen that fill the Saturnian system. 
View on AAAS
igpp.ucla.edu
451 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
38
Background Citations
149
Methods Citations
31
Results Citations
9

451 Citations

Investigation of diurnal variability of water vapor in Enceladus' plume by the Cassini ultraviolet imaging spectrograph
An occultation of ε Orionis by Enceladus' plume was observed with Enceladus at an orbital longitude near apoapsis in order to investigate whether water vapor flow is modulated diurnally, similar to…
Does Enceladus Govern Magnetospheric Dynamics at Saturn?
Instruments on the Cassini spacecraft reveal that a heat source within Saturn's moon Enceladus powers a great plume of water ice particles and dust grains, a geyser that jets outward from the south…
The composition and structure of Enceladus' plume from the complete set of Cassini UVIS occultation observations
Cassini Dust Measurements at Enceladus and Implications for the Origin of the E Ring
TLDR
During Cassini's close flyby of Enceladus on 14 July 2005, the High Rate Detector of the Cosmic Dust Analyzer registered micron-sized dust particles enveloping this satellite; this asymmetric signature is consistent with a locally enhanced dust production in the south polar region of Encesladus.
Ultraviolet observation of Enceladus' plume in transit across Saturn, compared to Europa
A Clathrate Reservoir Hypothesis for Enceladus' South Polar Plume
We hypothesize that active tectonic processes in the south polar terrain of Enceladus, the 500-kilometer-diameter moon of Saturn, are creating fractures that cause degassing of a clathrate reservoir…
Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot
TLDR
Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) detected 3 to 7 gigawatts of thermal emission from the south polar troughs at temperatures up to 145 kelvin or higher, making Enceladus only the third known solid planetary body—after Earth and Io—that is sufficiently geologically active for its internal heat to be detected by remote sensing.
Identification of a Dynamic Atmosphere at Enceladus with the Cassini Magnetometer
TLDR
The Cassini magnetometer has detected the interaction of the magnetospheric plasma of Saturn with an atmospheric plume at the icy moon Enceladus, consistent with local outgassing activity via a plume from the surface of the moon near its south pole.
Enceladus Plume Dynamics: From Surface to Space
The geysers comprised of largely water vapor and icy particles feeding the broader plume over the south pole of Enceladus constitute a unique opportunity. That flow of material, moderated by several…
Composition and Physical Properties of Enceladus' Surface
TLDR
Observations of Saturn's satellite Enceladus using Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument were obtained during three flybys in 2005, and upper limits of 140 kelvin are derived for the temperatures in the tiger stripes.
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 18 REFERENCES
Cassini Encounters Enceladus: Background and the Discovery of a South Polar Hot Spot
TLDR
Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) detected 3 to 7 gigawatts of thermal emission from the south polar troughs at temperatures up to 145 kelvin or higher, making Enceladus only the third known solid planetary body—after Earth and Io—that is sufficiently geologically active for its internal heat to be detected by remote sensing.
Identification of a Dynamic Atmosphere at Enceladus with the Cassini Magnetometer
TLDR
The Cassini magnetometer has detected the interaction of the magnetospheric plasma of Saturn with an atmospheric plume at the icy moon Enceladus, consistent with local outgassing activity via a plume from the surface of the moon near its south pole.
Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer: Enceladus Plume Composition and Structure
TLDR
INMS data indicate that the atmospheric plume and coma are dominated by water, with significant amounts of carbon dioxide, an unidentified species with a mass-to-charge ratio of 28 daltons (either carbon monoxide or molecular nitrogen), and methane.
The Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph Investigation
The Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) is part of the remote sensing payload of the Cassini orbiter spacecraft. UVIS has two spectrographic channels that provide images and spectra…
Detection of the hydroxyl radical in the Saturn magnetosphere
THE magnetosphere in the vicinity of the orbits of Saturn's icy satellites consists of a low-density plasma, in which the electrons are an order of magnitude cooler than the accompanying heavy ions1.…
Saturn's E Ring and Production of the Neutral Torus
Recent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the densities of neutralOH molecules that coexist with and are precursors of the plasma ions have constrained models for the plasma sources. An…
Structure and particle properties of Saturn's E Ring
A New Look at the Saturn System: The Voyager 2 Images
TLDR
Within Saturn's rings, the "birth" of a spoke has been observed, and surprising azimuthal and time variability is found in the ringlet structure of the outer B ring, leading to speculations about Saturn's internal structure and about the collisional and thermal history of the rings and satellites.
Photodissociation of water in the à band revisited with new potential energy surfaces
Theoretical calculations on the photodissociation of water in the first absorption band have been used to test the accuracy of three available potential energy surfaces for the first excited state of…
The electronic spectrum of water in the discrete and continuum regions. Absolute optical oscillator strengths for photoabsorption (6–200 eV)
...
...