Ocean World

Geysers of water and ice spew into space from the south pole of Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn, as it passes in front of the planet's rings in this view from the Cassini spacecraft. The smaller moon Pandora is just below the rings. The surface of Enceladus consists almost entirely of water ice. An ocean of liquid water appears to lie below the surface. Some of the water squirts through cracks in the icy crust. Cassini detected organic chemistry in the water plumes, suggesting the ocean may be fed by volcanic vents like those found at the bottom of Earth's oceans. That gives Enceladus the basic ingredients for life: water, chemistry, and energy. [NASA/JPL/SSI]