Saturn moon may have ocean beneath its surface

Washington Post : Scientists now believe that Saturn’s moon Enceladus may have a vast ocean beneath its surface. Measurements taken by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft during 2008 and 2009 flybys have shown large grains of ice with substantial amounts of salt spewing from the bottom of the moon. Frank Postberg of the University of Germany, lead author of a study published today in Nature, and colleagues think the ice grains are coming from surface fractures at the moon’s southern pole, areas that have been deemed “tiger stripes.” That the stripes are the apparent source of salty ice is considered a significant breakthrough with implications for understanding planets and moons and for detecting possible sites hospitable to life, writes Marc Kaufman for the Washington Post.