JWST Molecular Mapping And Characterization Of Enceladus’ Water Plume Feeding Its Torus

JWST Molecular Mapping And Characterization Of Enceladus’ Water Plume Feeding Its Torus

by | Jun 1, 2023 | Interstellar medium and Astrochemistry, RSN3, Solar System

Enceladus is a prime target in the search for life in our solar system, having an active plume likely connected to a large liquid water subsurface ocean.

Using the sensitive NIRSpec instrument onboard JWST, we searched for organic compounds and characterized the plume’s composition and structure. The observations directly sample the fluorescence emissions of H2O and reveal an extraordinarily extensive plume (up to 10,000 km or 40 Enceladus radii) at cryogenic temperatures (25 K) embedded in a large bath of emission originating from Enceladus’ torus.

JUICE: JANUS sent its first images acquired in space

JUICE: JANUS sent its first images acquired in space

by | May 26, 2023 | Exoplanets and Astrobiology, Facilities for UV/Optical/IR Astrophysics, Janus, Projects, RSN3, RSN5, Solar System

The instrument Jovis, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator (JANUS) passed the commissioning phase with full marks. It is a real test during which – 8 million km from the Earth – it opened its electronic “eyes”, sending the so-called “first light”, i.e. his first series of images, to the technicians and researchers