Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, is a 'cosmic graffiti artist,' astronomers discover

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Wispy fingers of bright icy material reach tens of thousands of kilometers outward from Saturnacutes moon Enceladus into the E ring while the moonacutes active south polar jets continue to fire away. Credit: NASAJPLSpace Science Institute
Wispy fingers of bright, icy material reach tens of thousands of kilometers outward from Saturn's moon Enceladus into the E ring, while the moon's active south polar jets continue to fire away. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Astronomers from the University of Virginia and other institutions have found that Enceladus, the sixth-largest moon of Saturn, is a "cosmic graffiti artist," pelting the surfaces of at least 11 other moons of Saturn with ice particles sprayed from its spewing surface geysers. This ice sandblasts the other moons, creating a reflective surface that makes them among the brightest bodies in the solar system (Enceladus, itself a ball of mostly ice, is the single most reflective body in our solar system).


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