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Moon · evidence and sources

Enceladus

Saturn's sixth-largest moon. Known for its water ice geysers and subsurface ocean.

Kepler elements Orbit basis, the same label the app shows on the selection card.

Open in Space Time

Every aspect, with its origin

One record per aspect. The origin says what kind of thing each value is; the source says where it came from; the limit says what it cannot tell you.

ObservedCatalogComputedReconstructedIllustrativeUndocumented
Orbit Computed

Orbit from mean elements

Enceladus is placed by solving a Keplerian orbit around saturn at the simulation time (a = 238,020 km, e = 0.0047, i = 0°, period 1.4 d).

SourceBundled orbital elements
MethodTwo-body propagation of the stored elements by the shared orbit service; no perturbations.
LimitA two-body orbit ignores perturbations, and the object catalog does not record which element table these values were copied from.
Physical data Undocumented

Bulk properties

Enceladus: mean radius 252.1 km. These values are bundled with the object record and drive the rendered size.

SourceBundled object record
LimitThe object catalog does not record where these values came from; treat them as unverified until the record is completed.
Appearance Reconstructed

Cassini grayscale mosaic

Brightness is normalized for display. This is spacecraft morphology imagery, not calibrated albedo or a height map.

SourceAppearance source and method
MethodThis describes the displayed appearance only; it does not certify catalog dimensions, orbital elements or unobserved geology.
Appearance Reconstructed

Cassini’s map of the ice

A grayscale spacecraft mosaic, reduced from the source and normalized for display. Coverage, resolution and baked-in illumination vary. No ocean is visible in this map.

SourceNASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / USGS
MethodSource maps are compared with a physical globe or rings under simulated illumination. The image and camera view are not registered.
LimitMap pixels describe appearance, not measured terrain height. Brightness and color may be adjusted for display.
Description Undocumented

Description and facts

The short description and the fact list are written by the Space Time authors for orientation. They are not quoted from a catalog field and carry no citation of their own.

SourceSpace Time editorial text
LimitBackground reading is linked under Further reading; it is not the source of the displayed numbers.

What is not measured

  • Appearance: a reconstruction from measurements, not a direct observation. Cassini grayscale mosaic. Brightness is normalized for display. This is spacecraft morphology imagery, not calibrated albedo or a height map.
  • Appearance: a reconstruction from measurements, not a direct observation. Cassini’s map of the ice. Map pixels describe appearance, not measured terrain height. Brightness and color may be adjusted for display.

Not yet documented

  • Physical data: The object catalog does not record where these values came from; treat them as unverified until the record is completed.
  • Description: Background reading is linked under Further reading; it is not the source of the displayed numbers.

Dataset freshness

Snapshots this page depends on, read from the generated manifests at request time.
DatasetLast refreshedHorizonAutomated
Planetary satellite mean elements
JPL Solar System Dynamics
 no snapshot date Mean elements (a, e, i, period) for every known natural satellite No, refreshed by hand
npm run generate:moons

Sources cited

Further reading

Wikipedia: Enceladus (background only; not the source of the displayed numbers)

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