Saturn's Moon Enceladus Has Global Subsurface Ocean

An anonymous reader writes: NASA's Cassini probe has made another fascinating discovery: Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, has an underground ocean spanning its entire globe. Researchers were trying to explain why the moon wobbles as it orbits Saturn, and they eventually came to the conclusion that its outer shell must be completely detached from its core. "The mechanisms that might have prevented Enceladus' ocean from freezing remain a mystery. Thomas and his colleagues suggest a few ideas for future study that might help resolve the question, including the surprising possibility that tidal forces due to Saturn's gravity could be generating much more heat within Enceladus than previously thought."

Comments

I wonder if there are dead fish at the south pole?

[Aku Head]

The geysers could spit them out and they would fall back to the surface. We need an orbiter to fly through those plumes and measure what is in them.

Even more bizzare sub surface ocean!

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

That is nothing man, nothing. There is a planet with a huge subsurface ocean of iron! Yes, iron in liquid form, molten iron. It is roiling too. And because iron is magnetic the oceanic currents of this iron ocean creates a powerful magnetic field. The magnetic field powerful enough to deflect the charge particle wind from its parent star several at a distance of several planetary diameters away. The entire planet behaves as thought it has a permanent bar magnet placed along its axis! Further more these iron ocean current weaken over time, change directions and flip the polarity of the planetary magnet.

This ocean of molten iron exists just 1% of the planetary radius below the surface. Most people don't realize how close they are to this bizarre weird incredible iron ocean.