Saturn's Moon Enceladus Has 'Curtain Eruptions,' Not Jets: Study

Eruption of water vapor on Enceladus, Saturn's sixth-largest moon, might be in the form of broad, curtain-like sheets, rather than discrete jets, according to a new study.

"We think most of the observed activity represents curtain eruptions from the 'tiger stripe' fractures, rather than intermittent geysers along them," Joseph Spitale, a Cassini mission participating scientist and senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, said, in a statement, referring to prominent wavy fractures along the moon's surface. "Some prominent jets likely are what they appear to be, but most of the activity seen in the images can be explained without discrete jets."

The study added that these "phantom jets" seen in simulated images produced by scientists line up perfectly with some of the features seen in real Cassini images.

In 2005, NASA's Cassini-Huygens spacecraft had found evidence of an icy spray issuing from the southern polar region Enceladus. Recently researchers also had confirmed the presence of hydrothermal activity.

"The viewing direction plays an important role in where the phantom jets appear," Spitale said, in the statement. "If you rotate your perspective around Enceladus' South Pole, such jets would seem to appear and disappear."

Researchers believe that Enceladus is covered with a layer of ice of about 19 miles to 25 miles thick. Evidence further suggests that the moon harbors a six-mile-deep ocean, with temperatures reaching up to 194 degrees Fahrenheit below its thick, icy surface, making it a prime location to look for extraterrestrial life.

The study was published in the journal Nature.