{"id":13919,"date":"2017-02-16T19:11:48","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T00:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13919"},"modified":"2017-02-16T19:12:03","modified_gmt":"2017-02-17T00:12:03","slug":"cassini-magnetic-anomaly-leads-to-an-ocean-circling-saturn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13919","title":{"rendered":"Cassini: Magnetic anomaly leads to an ocean world circling Saturn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saturn&#8217;s little moon <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Enceladus\" target=\"_blank\">Enceladus<\/a> has turned out to be one of the most interesting objects in the solar system:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/saturn.jpl.nasa.gov\/news\/3001\/an-ice-worldwith-an-ocean\/\" target=\"_d\">Cassini: Mission to Saturn: An Ice World&#8230;With an Ocean?<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><em>How a puzzling sensor reading transformed NASA\u2019s<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Cassini Saturn mission and created a new target in the search <\/em><br \/>\n<em>for habitable worlds beyond Earth.<\/em><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/s6xl9abYL2k?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Feb. 17, 2005, NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft was making the first-ever close pass over Saturn\u2019s moon Enceladus as it worked through its detailed survey of the planet\u2019s icy satellites. Exciting, to be sure, just for the thrill of exploration. But then Cassini\u2019s magnetometer instrument noticed something odd.<\/p>\n<p>Since NASA&#8217;s two Voyager spacecraft made their distant flybys of Enceladus about 20 years prior, scientists had anticipated the little moon would be an interesting place to visit with Cassini. Enceladus is bright white &#8212; the most reflective object in the solar system, in fact &#8212; and it orbits in the middle of a faint ring of dust-sized ice particles known as Saturn\u2019s E ring. Scientists speculated ice dust was being kicked off its surface somehow. But they presumed it would be, essentially, a dead, airless ball of ice.<\/p>\n<p>What Cassini saw didn&#8217;t look like a frozen, airless body. Instead, it looked something like a comet that was actively emitting gas. The magnetometer detected that Saturn\u2019s magnetic field, which envelops Enceladus, was perturbed above the moon&#8217;s south pole in a way that didn&#8217;t make sense for an inactive world. Could it be that the moon was actively replenishing gases it was breathing into space?<\/p>\n<p>Thus began a hunt for clues that has turned out to be Cassini&#8217;s most riveting detective story.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>\u201cEnceladus was so exciting that, instead of just three close flybys planned for our four-year primary mission, we added 20 more, including seven that went right through the geysers at the south pole,\u201d said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>By following the trail of scientific breadcrumbs, Cassini eventually found that Enceladus harbors a global ocean of salty water under its icy crust, possibly with hydrothermal vents on its seafloor. The trail of clues that began with a puzzling magnetometer reading led to an understanding that the moon &#8212; and perhaps many small, icy moons like it throughout the cosmos &#8212; could potentially have the ingredients needed for life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>\u201cHalf the excitement of doing science is that you sometimes find yourself going in a totally different direction than you expected, which can lead to amazing discoveries,\u201d said Spilker. \u201cThat little anomaly in Cassini\u2019s magnetometer signal was unusual enough that it eventually led us to an ocean world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For a timeline of Cassini&#8217;s Enceladus discoveries, visit:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/go.nasa.gov\/2k0CRP3\">http:\/\/go.nasa.gov\/2k0CRP3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Launched in 1997, the Cassini mission is currently in its final year of operations, performing weekly ring-grazing dives just past the outer edge of Saturn&#8217;s rings. In April, the spacecraft will begin its Grand Finale, plunging through the gap between the rings and the planet itself, leading up to a final plunge into Saturn on September 15.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13920\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13920\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/saturn.jpl.nasa.gov\/resources\/2629\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"13920\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=13920\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/SaturnMagneticFieldAtEnceladus.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"800,516\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Saturn Magnetic Field at Enceladus\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/SaturnMagneticFieldAtEnceladus.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-13920\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/SaturnMagneticFieldAtEnceladus.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/SaturnMagneticFieldAtEnceladus.jpg 800w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/SaturnMagneticFieldAtEnceladus-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/SaturnMagneticFieldAtEnceladus-768x495.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13920\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Illustration showing the bending of Saturn&#8217;s magnetic field near Enceladus that was detected by Cassini&#8217;s magnetometer. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech &gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/saturn.jpl.nasa.gov\/resources\/2629\/\" target=\"_blank\">Full image and caption<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Cassini has been touring the Saturn system since arriving in 2004 for an up-close study of the planet, its rings and moons, and its vast magnetosphere. Cassini has made numerous dramatic discoveries, besides the activity at Enceladus, including liquid methane seas on another moon, Titan.<\/p>\n<p>The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA&#8217;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for NASA&#8217;s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.<\/p>\n<p>More information about Cassini:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/cassini\">www.nasa.gov\/cassini<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/saturn.jpl.nasa.gov\/\">saturn.jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saturn&#8217;s little moon Enceladus has turned out to be one of the most interesting objects in the solar system: Cassini: Mission to Saturn: An Ice World&#8230;With an Ocean? How a puzzling sensor reading transformed NASA\u2019s Cassini Saturn mission and created a new target in the search for habitable worlds beyond Earth. On Feb. 17, 2005, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13919\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Cassini: Magnetic anomaly leads to an ocean world circling Saturn<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,87,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-titan","category-et-al","category-space-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-3Cv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11606,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11606","url_meta":{"origin":13919,"position":0},"title":"Cassini returns new views of northern areas of Saturn&#8217;s Moon Enceladus","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Cassini\u00a0spacecraft continues to return marvelous images of the Saturn system: Closest Northern Views of Saturn's Moon Enceladus NASA's Cassini spacecraft has begun returning its best-ever views of the northern extremes of Saturn's icy, ocean-bearing moon Enceladus. The spacecraft obtained the images during its Oct. 14 flyby, passing 1,142 miles\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=87"},"img":{"alt_text":"PIA19660-br500[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/PIA19660-br5001.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14919,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=14919","url_meta":{"origin":13919,"position":1},"title":"Video: Cassini mission to Saturn comes to an end","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Cassini spacecraft\u00a0made its final orbit of Saturn this morning: NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Ends Its Historic Exploration of Saturn\u00a0 https:\/\/youtu.be\/V5Ho30EMRm4 A thrilling epoch in the exploration of our solar system came to a close today, as NASA's\u00a0Cassini spacecraft\u00a0made a fateful plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, ending its 13-year tour\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Europa, Titan, &amp; other deep space sites&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Europa, Titan, &amp; other deep space sites","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=98"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pia21889_enceladus_figa_color-a1-1024x1022.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16366,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=16366","url_meta":{"origin":13919,"position":2},"title":"Audio: Hear the radio emissions of Saturn and its moon Enceladus","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Check out the exotic sounds of Saturn as derived from the radio transmissions generated by waves in the plasma (ionized particles) between Saturn and the rings and the satellite Enceladus: Listen: Electromagnetic Energy of Saturn, Enceladus https:\/\/youtu.be\/hWHLCHv4PiI New research from NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft\u2019s up-close Grand Finale orbits shows a surprisingly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=87"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/hWHLCHv4PiI\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15242,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15242","url_meta":{"origin":13919,"position":3},"title":"Cassini&#8217;s farewell mosaic of Saturn","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Cassini probe was sent to its doom in the Saturn atmosphere back in September but images and data will be arriving from its mission to the ringed planet for years to come. Here is a recent NASA JPL posting about a wonderful view of Saturn created form Cassini images:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=87"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/PIA17218-161-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14893,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=14893","url_meta":{"origin":13919,"position":4},"title":"Cassini nears journey&#8217;s end + The plume of Enceladous + The rings in hi-res","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0Cassini\u00a0mission to Saturn will end on September 15th when the spacecraft's orbit will take it into the gas giant's atmosphere. 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Inside Enceladus Understanding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=87"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2014\/04\/inside_enceladus\/14362029-1-eng-GB\/Inside_Enceladus_large.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13919"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13922,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919\/revisions\/13922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}