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REAL LIFE NEWS: CASSINI FLIES PAST ENCELADUS

by Hazed

The Cassini spacecraft, sent by NASA to buzz around Saturn and its moons, has survived an "in your face" flyby of Enceladus. At its closest approach it passed just 30 miles above the moon's surface.

The purpose of this close-up approach was to collect information on geysers which spew water vapor and other matter from giant fractures at the body's south pole. The craft used its Cosmic Dust Analyzer and Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer to "sniff and taste" the plume. Unfortunately, a glitch meant that the Dust Analyzer failed to collect any data during the closest part of the approach, although it did get data before and after. The other instruments worked fine and collected the expected data.

Now we will have to wait to see what the data shows - it is possible that analysis will point to "water ocean or organics" below the surface of Enceladus' south pole. Meanwhile, NASA has published some of the pictures taken during this extremely close encounter. Take a look at one of them here.

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