Jump21of 100 · 1,280 M km from Earth
Enceladus: the moon that spits water into space
Enceladus shoots jets of water into space from an ocean under its ice, with a plume over 9,600 km long. Facts with their sources, and videos.
Curious facts
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Geysers from the south pole
Cracks near its south pole shoot jets of water vapour and ice grains out into space. The Cassini probe studied them for years, and NASA explains that they are fed by a global ocean under the ice, which there may be only 1 to 5 km thick. 1
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A plume twenty times bigger than the moon
Enceladus is only about 500 km across, but in 2023 the James Webb telescope saw its vapour plume stretch more than 9,600 km, over 20 times its size. It gushes about 300 litres per second. 2
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It makes one of Saturn’s rings
The ice grains it throws out spread along its orbit and form Saturn’s E ring. 1
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The shiniest thing in the Solar System
It is the most reflective body in the whole Solar System. 1
Videos
My shorts about Enceladus, in Spanish.
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La luna que escupe agua al espacio
With AI-made illustrations, labelled on screen
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Todo esto existe de verdad
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Enceladus in Orbit
In the game, Enceladus is jump 21 of the route, 1,280 M km from Earth. Its logbook card says:
Logbook · Jump 21
Shoots water geysers into space from its south pole
Two steps with the Google account you use on Play: join the group, then download the test. Google Play can take a while, sometimes more than an hour, before it lets you download it; if you see “Item not found”, wait and try again.
Sources
- NASA, Enceladus. science.nasa.gov/saturn/moons/enceladus
- NASA, Webb, 2023. science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webb-maps-surprisingly-large-plume-jetting-from-saturns-moon-enceladus
Checked between 8 and 11 October 2026.
Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · original