Photograph Description

False-colour composite Cassini spacecraft image of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons. At bottom plains are divided by tectonic gashes (blue). Due to the absence of impact craters in this area, the surface is thought to be younger than elsewhere on the moon. Enceladus is composed of water ice, silicates and iron. Its surface features suggest the presence of a subsurface ocean, although this has not been confirmed. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched in 1997 to investigate Saturn, its rings and its moons. This image was taken at a distance of 112,100 kilometres on 14 July 2005. (Photo by Science Photo Library)