Astronomers Spot Water-Vapor Plumes on Saturn's Moon Enceladus — Again

The image shows a fine silver thread lifting off the small white moon and dissolving into space. That thread is water — roughly 200 kilograms of it per second, escaping through cracks in the ice shell.

Enceladus has been the most tantalising address in the solar system since robots first flew through its plumes and tasted salt, silica and the chemistry of a global ocean hiding beneath kilometres of ice.

The new observation matters because it caught the plume from a distance, no flyby required. Astronomers can now watch it change over months, building a seasonal picture of the moon's hidden sea before any lander ever arrives.

“The plume rose 9,500 kilometres above the icy surface, visible from a new orbital telescope in a single remarkable frame.”