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Craft Flies 16 Miles From Moon Of Saturn

from the Washington Post (Registration Required)

The international Cassini space probe flew within 16 miles of the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus last week—a breathtakingly close flyby designed to gather dust and water particles that will help scientists better understand the recently discovered geysers that spew constantly from the moon's south pole.

"Cassini flew closest to the equator of Enceladus to collect those particles and then went into the plume coming out of the south pole at a much greater height," said project scientist Robert Pappalardo.

The main goal of the mission, he said, is to determine if the dust and ice particles drifting above the moon's equator are the same or different from those that spit out of the geysers. "This is how we hope to learn more about the history and evolution of Enceladus, and about whether there's liquid water involved in the generation of the plume," he said.