'Misty caverns' on Enceladus moon
Nasa's Cassini spacecraft has obtained strong evidence that Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus retains liquid water.
Liquid water that is in prolonged contact with rock will leach out sodium - in exactly the same way as Earth's oceans have become salty over time.
Scientists tell Nature magazine that the liquid water may reside in caverns just below the surface of the moon.
Sodium salts in E-ring ice grains from an ocean below the surface of Enceladus
Saturn's moon Enceladus emits plumes of water vapour and ice particles from fractures near its south pole
which can arise only if the plumes originate from liquid water
No sodium in the vapour plumes of Enceladus
The discovery of water vapour and ice particles erupting from Saturn's moon Enceladus fuelled speculation that an internal ocean was the source
argues against a situation in which a near-surface geyser is fuelled by a salty ocean through cracks in the crust
clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk 
