Enceladus

Subsurface oceans on moons are some of the most promising places to look for life beyond Earth. NASA is now funding a project to develop a swarm of small swimming robots that would explore these alien oceans for signs of extraterrestrial life.

Something is making methane on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. A new study has found that methane levels detected from the icy moon are far higher than can be explained by known geochemical processes – but they are consistent with microbes.

Data captured by the Cassini spacecraft has been used to create a new infrared map of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The images highlight the icy world's dramatic "Tiger Stripe" vent formation, which leads to a subsurface ocean that could play host to life.

Enceladus’ unique "tiger stripe" fissures have long been something of a mystery. Why do these distinctive formations only exist at Enceladus’ south pole? Why they are so evenly spaced, and why they haven’t simply closed up or frozen over?

Scientists have discovered a couple of new organic compounds within the icy plumes erupting from Enceladus, shedding more light on the moon's microbe-harboring potential.

Using data returned by the unmanned Cassini spacecraft as it made its last orbits, space scientists have captured the dynamic interaction of plasma waves moving between Saturn and its moon Enceladus and turned them into a haunting cosmic soundtrack.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus is one of the most promising places in the Solar System to look for extraterrestrial life. Now Cassini mission data has shown the presence of complex organic molecules, spraying up from the moon’s subsurface ocean through cracks in the icy shell.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus is one of the most promising places to look for life. In a new study, scientists subjected earthly bacteria to the kind of conditions found on Enceladus. They were able to survive and reproduce, adding weight to the idea that the icy moon might just be able to support life.

The science team responsible for NASA's Cassini spacecraft has released a gallery of the stand-out images from the probe's final hectic year exploring the Saturnian system.

Google Maps is both amazing and a little terrifying at times. Not content to just map out almost every corner of the Earth, Google has now added the ability to explore 12 other worlds in our little corner of the galaxy.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft is now less than 18 days from its fateful encounter with Saturn's atmosphere, which will mark a dramatic end to one of the most successful and inspiring planetary exploration missions to date. NASA has now laid out the final week of Cassini's historic mission.

New types of bacteria have been found in one of the most alien environments on Earth: a subglacial lake buried beneath almost a thousand feet of ice. Conditions could be strikingly similar to oceans of Europa or Enceladus, so studying these organisms could aid the search for extraterrestrial life.