6000Mile

Saturn’s moon Enceladus is famous for its plumes that spray water into space. Now the James Webb Space Telescope has watched the biggest known plume so far, spanning thousands of miles, and studied how they feed a huge water “donut” around Saturn.It may look like a big boring snowball, but Enceladus is one of the most intriguing worlds in our solar system. That icy outer shell is hiding a global ocean of liquid water, which could potentially host life. And that ocean isn’t content to stay put either – it regularly spurts…

Artist’s impression of the Cassini spacecraft flying through plumes erupting from the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. These plumes are much like geysers and expel a combination of water vapor, ice grains, salts, methane, and other organic molecules. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechInteraction between moon’s plumes and Saturn’s ring system explored with WebbEnceladus—a tiny, icy moon of <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div…