What is a Space Fountain?

During a recent flyby, NASA's Cassini Saturn probe collected particles of ice crystal fountains, called "space fountains", ejected from Enceladus' Antarctica. Scientists have thus obtained data that proves that a small satellite of Saturn, Enceladus, has a huge saltwater ocean beneath the surface.

Space fountain

On June 27, Beijing time, scientists have obtained the strongest evidence to date,

This "space fountain" is a very rare spectacle, with a large amount of water vapor and ice crystal particles being sprayed into it

From 2008 to 2009, Cassini crossed the fountain column three times, and the cosmic dust analyzer (CDA) carried on the spacecraft analyzed the composition of particles ejected from fresh fountains. Detection results found that these ice crystal particles hit the detector at a speed of more than 11 miles per second (about 17.7 kilometers) and vaporized rapidly. The equipment then conducts these gases

The chief scientist of the study, Frank Postberg, is from Germany.

The researchers said that the composition of these salt-rich particles is close to that of ocean waters, suggesting that most, if not all, of the ice crystal particles may come from the evaporation of an underground ocean, not the surface of Enceladus. When the brine freezes slowly, the salt is "squeezed out", leaving only pure fresh water. If the fountain was made of ice on the surface of Enceladus, then the salt content would not be as high in its composition, but this is not the case. From this, scientists reasoned that there was a sea of water between the rocky core and the icey mantle about 50 miles (about 80.5 kilometers) underground in Enceladus. The heat that keeps it liquid comes from the distortion of the stars caused by the gravitational tidal effect of Saturn and other satellites, and the decay of radioactive elements inside.

In the British "Nature" Magazine

According to estimates, according to the current speed of the Enceladus Antarctic fountain, it will lose about 440 pounds (about 200 kilograms) of material per second. Calculations also show that the ocean on Enceladus should have a large volatile area, otherwise it will condense in a short time, causing the fountain to stop. "The results of this study show that almost all of the fountain material in Enceladus Antarctica comes from an underground saltwater ocean, and this ocean has a relatively large exposed volatile surface." The research paper has been published in the British "Nature" magazine. ^[1]