February 17, 2022
On this date in 2005, the spacecraft Cassini performed its first successful flyby of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Enceladus has an icy crust and is believed to have a liquid water ocean beneath that. There are large, relatively warm cracks in the crust, which create large geysers. These geysers spray new material onto the surface of the moon, keeping it extremely bright.
Cassini captured this photo of water ice plumes on the south polar region of Enceladus on February 17, 2005, during it’s first flyby of the moon. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute