Enceladus Quiz: Saturn's Moon With Icy Plumes
NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew straight through plumes rising from cracks near the south pole of a small Saturn moon, and this Enceladus quiz explains what it tasted. Play 10 interactive questions on William Herschel's 1789 discovery, tiger stripes, the E ring, a global ocean, molecular hydrogen, phosphorus, its bright icy surface and Webb's view of the plume.
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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds
Planet
Which planet does Enceladus orbit?
Discoverer
Who discovered Enceladus in 1789?
Size
Roughly how wide is Enceladus?
Bright
What is notable about Enceladus's surface?
Plumes
Which spacecraft discovered plumes on Enceladus in 2005?
Stripes
What are the tiger stripes?
Ring
Which Saturn ring is supplied by Enceladus's plumes?
Ocean
What lies beneath Enceladus's icy crust?
Hydrogen
Why was molecular hydrogen in the plume exciting?
Phosphorus
What element essential to life was found in plume ice grains in 2023?
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Scroll down to see the explanation for each question.
Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions
- Q1: Which planet does Enceladus orbit?
Answer: Saturn
It is one of Saturn's mid-sized moons.
- Q2: Who discovered Enceladus in 1789?
Answer: William Herschel
Herschel also discovered Uranus.
- Q3: Roughly how wide is Enceladus?
Answer: About 500 km
It could fit inside the UK.
- Q4: What is notable about Enceladus's surface?
Answer: It is one of the most reflective in the solar system
Fresh ice reflects most sunlight.
- Q5: Which spacecraft discovered plumes on Enceladus in 2005?
Answer: Cassini
Cassini later flew through them.
- Q6: What are the tiger stripes?
Answer: Warm cracks near the south pole that vent plumes
Four long fractures feed the jets.
- Q7: Which Saturn ring is supplied by Enceladus's plumes?
Answer: The E ring
Ice particles spread along its orbit.
- Q8: What lies beneath Enceladus's icy crust?
Answer: A global saltwater ocean
Gravity and libration data revealed it.
- Q9: Why was molecular hydrogen in the plume exciting?
Answer: It suggests hydrothermal activity that could support microbes
Similar vents host life on Earth.
- Q10: What element essential to life was found in plume ice grains in 2023?
Answer: Phosphorus
It completed a list of key ingredients for life.
Enceladus Quiz – Saturn's Icy Fountain Moon
Enceladus is a small moon of Saturn, about 500 km wide, discovered by William Herschel in 1789. Its fresh icy surface is one of the most reflective in the solar system.
In 2005 NASA's Cassini spacecraft discovered plumes of water ice spraying from four warm fractures near the south pole, called tiger stripes. The plumes feed Saturn's E ring and come from a global saltwater ocean under the ice.
Cassini flew through the plumes and detected molecular hydrogen, a sign of hydrothermal activity, and studies later found phosphorus in ice grains. The James Webb Space Telescope has observed a plume stretching thousands of kilometers.
What This Quiz Teaches
Space fans and students will enjoy these questions.
- Where Enceladus is
- What the plumes are
- Where they come from
- Why scientists are excited
- Which missions studied it
Did You Know?
- Cassini's mission ended in 2017.
- Tidal heating from Saturn keeps the ocean liquid.
- Future missions may sample the plumes.
- Enceladus orbits Saturn in about 33 hours.
- Its south pole is warmer than expected.
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