Talk:Enceladus (moon)

English pronunciation [en-SELL-uh-dus].

Contents

1 Atmosphere 2 False color image 3 Mass and Density Figures 4 Major changes coming

Atmosphere

An atmosphere exists around every larger body of the solar system. The substantial information which is missing here is the pressure / density of the atmosphere. 193.171.121.30 18:52, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The press release announcing the discovery gave no information on the atmospheric properties, only that it is "substantial", whatever that means. --Jyril 20:13, Mar 18, 2005 (UTC)

False color image

I definitely prefer the old picture over the new false color image. I will revert, if nobody objects! Awolf002 13:15, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Done. Awolf002 13:55, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Yes, on Titan (moon) the concensus was that the main image of a body should look as realistic as possible. Specifically, false-colour images were considered inferior. In fact, apparently you were the one who reverted that one.  :-) --P3d0 17:52, Apr 28, 2005 (UTC)

I'm not at all sure that the current image has true colors whatever that means. Enceladus, with its extremely high albedo, is actually bright white or gray, not brown like in this image which looks like a colorized one. But I've to admit that the current image looks much better.--Jyril 19:45, Apr 28, 2005 (UTC)

Yes, there should be a better picture, since this is an old Voyager image, I believe. I will take a look at the JPL/Cassini image archive. Awolf002 19:58, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I can only find raw images, close-up images of the surface, or false color images that are better than the Voyager image. All other visible light images from the whole moon have less resolution. However, those pictures show a white surface! Should we replace? Awolf002 20:14, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Personally I would include both on the page. Most of the images I have added following my revisions earlier this month are high resolution images that don't show the whole disk and perhaps one of the full disk images from Cassini could be added to highlight the blue cliffs of Enceladus (to go along with the high resolution image I have for that purpose. Volcanopele 17:37, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)

Mass and Density Figures

I have updated the mass and density numbers for Enceladus based on a presentation (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/products/pdfs/CHARM_Turtle_050426.pdf) given by Zibi Turtle last month (not my only source of that information, but it is the only public mention of the change that I am aware of). The density figure is now 1.6 g/cm³, compared to the previous value of 1.3. This update is based on the Cassini NAV team's assessment of the reconstructed trajectory of Cassini following two recent flybys. This makes Enceladus denser than the other Saturnian mid-sized icy satellites, suggesting that it is composed of more iron and silicates that those other moons. I'm planning on making a mention of this in the article itself. Volcanopele 22:06, 01 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Major changes coming

I am working on some major edits to the Enceladus article after having spending the last week working on Enceladus images. The edits will be confined to the "Physical Characteristics" section, plus a new section on the history of Enceladus exploration. The Physical Characteristics section will have the following outline:

• Interior
• Surface
  • General Geology
    • Voyager 2 results
    • New Insights from Cassini
  • Impact Craters
  • Tectonics
  • "Planitia"
  • Cryovolanism?
• Atmosphere

This would generally follow an inside out approach to discussing this satellite. The atmosphere section will largely remain intact as it is now, though I may de-emphasize the "current events" nature of the section.

Just wanted to give a heads up to the changes I am working on.

- Volcanopele 19:29, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)