Saturn · natural satellite

Enceladus

An ocean feeding icy plumes

Cassini observed plumes escaping from fractures near the south pole. The sampled material provides evidence for a salty subsurface ocean and hydrothermal activity.

Mean diameter: 504.2 km
Mean orbital distance: 238,400 km from centre
Orbital period: 1.37 Earth days

Enceladus · NASA spacecraft imagery — NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · Image source ↗

Compared with our Moon

Enceladus · 504.2 km

Moon · 3,474.8 km

One diameter scale. Circle shapes compare volume-equivalent diameters; irregular moons are not spheres.

Orbit & discovery

Surface gravity: 0.113 m/s²
Discovery: 1789
Discoverer / team: W. Herschel
Provisional designation: —
JPL satellite ID: 602
Orbital eccentricity: 0.005
Inclination: 0 degrees

Inclination reference: Laplace. Mean-element epoch: 2000-01-01.5 TDB · SAT441.

Diameters use volume-equivalent mean radii, including for irregular bodies. Mean orbital elements describe an orbit; they are not live positions. Missing physical measurements remain unavailable.

Physical measurements & uncertainties

Mean radius · km: 252.10 ±0.20 [1]
GM · km³/s²: 7.21037 ±0.00009 [SAT441]
Density · g/cm³: 1.6097 ±0.0038 [*]

Missions in the Saturn system · 5 records

5 launches · 0 linked events

These records cover the planetary system. A system mission did not necessarily visit this moon. Dedicated targets are marked separately; programme events include the journey and briefings. Launch outcomes do not establish arrival, landing success or present spacecraft operation.

Dedicated targets only

PLANETARY SYSTEM · UPCOMING