Not just your average ball of ice

[Edric O]

News from the Cassini space probe orbiting Saturn - the moon Enceladus turns out to be a whole lot more than just any old iceball. Read the full story here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4197686.stm

[slaphapy]

wow, that's a fascinating read..... thanks for sharing.

could lead to some interesting stuff... 

~slap

[Kiyouta]

could lead to some interesting stuff...

G-Police!! ;D Although that was on Colisto..

[Dante]

I was wondering how long it would be before someone brought this up... Another fascinating little fragment of the solar system. Still, I wonder more about the significance of the southern pole than the presence of an atmosphere.

[Tako]

why the southern pole and not somewhere els on the moon? Strange idea, you would think that the equator would be more suited as the ice would be thinner there and the surface closer to the innnerbody of the planet

or maybe just aliens, ~shrugs~

[Edric O]

Perhaps it's just a coincidence that the hot spot happens to be located at the south pole...

[Acriku]

Where there's a scientifically unexplainable phenomena, there's a book being written about it. I got chills at the possibilites of sci fi plotlines with this new development.

[Tako]

Perhaps it's just a coincidence that the hot spot happens to be located at the south pole...

perhaps, but the pools are mostly the most cold places, thus the ice being thicker there, perhaps a meteor or a tin crust and an earth (pardon) moonquake?

bet they are researching that too right now

[Vanguard3000]

Interesting.  Thanks, Edric.

The cassini-Huygens mission was one I wish I had followed more.  When the Huygens lander finally made it to Titan, it was almost anticlimactic, I found.

[VigilVirus]

It's the Ordos planet  ;)