# Enceladus

*In the Solar System*

A moon only 500 km across that is one of the brightest objects in the Solar System, because its surface is fresh snow. At its south pole four long cracks - the tiger stripes - vent water from an ocean underneath, and the spray is what feeds Saturn's E ring. Cassini flew through the plumes and found salt, silica and organic molecules, and phosphorus in the ice grains, which makes that ocean one of the best places to ask whether life needs the Earth.

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Radius | 252 km |
| Around the equator | 1,584 km |
| From the Sun | 1,410,940,763 km (+241,956 km/d) |
| From the Earth | 1,262,361,764 km (+561,934 km/d) |
| A signal takes | 70 min |
| Goes round | Saturn |
| Placed to within | 1,960 km |

Distances and speed are computed from JPL Horizons trajectories and are true of 2026-10-09, changing at the rate given beside each. The interpolation itself is good to a few kilometres; what ages these figures is the date, not the arithmetic.

## Elsewhere

- On the live map: https://www.orbitalmap.space/?world=solar-system&focus=enceladus
- This object as a page: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/enceladus/
- Every object: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/
- What this site is and what it reads: https://www.orbitalmap.space/llms.txt