Starship Asterisk*

Newly released images from last November's swoop over Saturn's icy moon Enceladus by NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal a forest of new jets spraying from prominent fractures crossing the south polar region and yield the most detailed temperature map to date of one fracture.

The new images from the imaging science subsystem and the composite infrared spectrometer teams also include the best 3-D image ever obtained of a "tiger stripe," a fissure that sprays icy particles, water vapor and organic compounds. There are also views of regions not well-mapped previously on Enceladus, including a southern area with crudely circular tectonic patterns.

Cassini's close flyby of Enceladus last Nov. 21 revealed a forest of new jets spraying from the prominent fractures crossing the south polar region and yielded the most detailed temperature map to date. (News release can be found here.)

PIA 11688: Bursting at the Seams

Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed "tiger stripes" near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The tiger stripes are fissures that spray icy particles, water vapor and organic compounds.

PIA 11696: Enceladus' Warm Baghdad Sulcus

In this unique mosaic image combining high-resolution data from the imaging science subsystem and composite infrared spectrometer aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft, pockets of heat appear along one of the mysterious fractures in the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The fracture, named Baghdad Sulcus, is one of the so-called "tiger stripe" features that erupt with jets of water vapor and ice particles.

PIA 11697: Context for Baghdad Sulcus Mosaic

This wide-angle image shows the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus and outlines the area covered by the high-resolution mosaic combining data from the imaging science subsystem and composite infrared spectrometer aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft (PIA11696). The outlined area focuses on Baghdad Sulcus, a fracture in the south polar region.

PIA 12448: Zooming in on Heat at Baghdad Sulcus

The right-hand image shows a dramatically improved view of heat radiation from a warm fissure near the south pole of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. It was obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its Nov. 21, 2009, flyby of that moon. The fissure, named Baghdad Sulcus, is one of four so-called "tiger stripe" features that emit jets of water vapor and ice particles. The tiger stripe runs from the upper left to the lower right of the image. The infrared map, obtained by Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer, is nearly 10 times more detailed than the image on the left, which was the best previous map of heat from the fissures.

PIA 11687: Baghdad Sulcus in 3-D

This anaglyph made from images captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a dramatic, 3-D view of one of the deep fractures nicknamed "tiger stripes" on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The fractures, which are located near the moon's south pole, spray jets of water ice.

PIA 11683: Peaceful Portrait

At first glance, this scene simply shows the bright crescent of Saturn's moon Enceladus at top right, composed against the stability of its parent planet resting at the bottom left. But a closer look at the center of the image reveals a dramatic surprise: plumes of water ice spew out from the famed fractures known as "tiger stripes" near the south pole of the moon.

PIA 11684: Enceladus' Leading Hemisphere

NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a new view of Saturn's moon Enceladus in a whole-disk mosaic of the geologically active moon's leading, or western, hemisphere.

PIA 11685: New to Old on Enceladus

This mosaic features the highest resolution data yet captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft of the leading, or western, hemisphere of Saturn's moon Enceladus. It shows where the newly created terrain of this geologically active moon's south polar region meets older, crater-filled terrain further north. The mosaic also shows tectonically disrupted terrain of intermediate age in other areas.

PIA 11686: Enceladan Tectonics

This mosaic shows extraordinary details of tectonic deformation in the fractured south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus, where jets of water ice spray outward to form Saturn's E ring.