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Emily Lakdawalla • Aug 08, 2008

The Fountains of Enceladus

I thought I'd send you all into the weekend with a pretty picture. I composed this from the best images I could find of the plumes that have been released to the Planetary Data System to date.

The Fountains of Enceladus

NASA / JPL / SSI / montage by Emily Lakdawalla

The Fountains of Enceladus
It is only when Enceladus is close to the Sun in Cassini's field of view that its south polar jets become visible, with the Sun's rays glancing off of the fine water ice particles in the plumes.