NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured images of water vapour and ice jets on Saturn's moon Enceladus.

At its closest approach, the spacecraft flew approximately 62 miles (100 kilometres) above the moon's surface. The close approach was designed to give some of Cassini's instruments, including the ion and neutral mass spectrometer, the chance to "taste" the jets themselves.

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© NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute Cassini sees jets of water vapor and ice from Enceladus.
At a higher vantage point during the encounter, Cassini's high-resolution camera captured pictures of the jets emanating from the moon's south polar region. The images of the surface include previously seen leading-hemisphere terrain.

Cassini's next pass of the moon will be Wednesday, October 19th, when the spacecraft flies by at an altitude of approximately 765 miles (1231 kilometres).

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© NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science InstituteDuring Cassini's Oct. 1, 2011 flyby, Saturn's moon Enceladus was in full view.
Today, 14 October, is exactly 34 years on (1977) from when the plutonium-powered spacecraft rocketed flawlessly toward Saturn. The $3.3 billion Cassini-Huygens Mission arrived at its detsination in 2004.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.