Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Is A Sexy Ball Of Ice.

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Check out this gorgeous picture of Enceladus that Cassini has snapped. Also note Saturn’s rings, lurking in the background.

Bad Astronomy:

Most of the action on Enceladus is at the south pole, where geysers of water are erupting. But up at the other end of the 500 km wide moon – for comparison, Colorado is  600 km across – it’s still pretty nifty. The reflective, icy surface is saturated with craters, including that interesting triple smackdown on the left. Something must have broken apart as it hit… though I’ll note the two big craters are elongated, indicating a very shallow angle of impact, while the third smaller one is round. It may only coincidentally line up with the other two. If that’s the case, maybe a binary asteroid hit here long, long ago.

Cracks snake their way across the surface too. Enceladus certainly has liquid water under its perpetually frozen exterior, though  there’s some debate over whether it’s a global ocean or pockets of liquid. Still, the remarkable thing is that a moon smaller than some states and frozen to a temperature of -200 °C could still have liquid water hidden beneath at all.

For a frozen ball of miserable ice, it’s still pretty gorgeous. Hear that Pluto? Some frozen pieces of shit are still gorgeous. Miserable Dwarf Planet.