Newly Found Organics in Enceladus’ Plumes

Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed tiger stripes near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus in this image released on Feb. 23, 2010. A study published in October 2025 analyzed data from NASA’s Cassini mission and found evidence of previously undetected organic compounds in a plume of ice particles like the ones seen here. The ice particles were ejected from the ocean that lies under Enceladus’ frozen shell. Researchers spotted not only molecules they’ve found before but also new ones that lay a potential path to chemical or biochemical activity.

Learn more about what they discovered.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute