Spray of icy particles on Enceladus, January 2005

A fine spray of small, icy particles emanating from the warm, geologically unique area at the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus was observed in a NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini narrow-angle camera image of the crescent moon taken on 16 January 2005.

Taken from a high phase angle of 148 degrees - a viewing geometry in which small particles become much easier to see - the plume of material becomes more apparent in images processed to enhance faint signals.

The left image was taken in visible green light. A dark mask was applied to the moon's bright limb to make the plume feature easier to see. The image on the right has been colour-coded to make faint signals in the plume more apparent.

Images of other moons, such as Tethys and Mimas, taken in the last 10 months from similar lighting and viewing geometries, and with identical camera parameters, were closely examined to demonstrate that the plume towering above Enceladus is real and not an effect of the camera.

The images were acquired at a distance of about 209 400 kilometres from Enceladus. Image scale is about 1 kilometre per pixel.