Discussion: Enceladus Compared to the United ...

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: Here's a picture of Saturn's moon Enceladus side by side with the United Kingdom, to show its actual size. Enceladus is only 505 km (314 miles) across, and it could comfortably fit within the states of Arizona or Colorado.

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[Fraser]

That's actually kind of an unnerving picture. :-)

[cran]

Yes fraser, it does look like something out of the 'apocalypse Earth' disaster movies ...
BUT - This story has just turned up on NewScientist, about huge water plumes rising from the south pole of Enceladus, and apparently supplying the E-ring ...
... just when I think it's safe to disconnect my computer and pack it for travelling ... go figure...

[madman]

when i saw that pic..i thought it was from the same article i'd just read about enceladus having an atmosphere.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4197686.stm

apparently it's concentrated at the south pole.

titan i think also has an odd shaped atmosphere...i think it's either thicker or is an actual extra layer that covers the northern? hemisphere.

i wonder if we're beginning to see more signs of hemispherically asymmetric atmospheres?

[Jerry]

So which is colder? The tiger stripes of Enceladus, or a Bristol fog in January?

[Eric Vaxxine]

SO...the picture is all about it being a titchy place that shouldn't be active?

... and it'll be the Bristol fog in January...but only if you are a visiting Saharan nomad in a t-shirt. h34r:

[Nigel Depledge]

OK, I guess you could call me a pedant, but where in that picture is the UK? I can see the British Isles, but I can't see the political entity that goes by the catchy name of "The United Kingdom of Great Britain, Nothern Ireland, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man".

Anyway, the pic does make it look like Enceladus is about to crash into northern England. Is that why I can't see the apparition of Venus and Jupiter at the moment?

Hmm .. while a winter Bristol fog is damn' cold, I think a windy winter's day in Edinburgh is colder. Then again, the south pole of one of Saturn's airless moons (even though there is some vapour there, it is too thin to be noticeable to us as an atmosphere I think). What is that, about 80 Kelvin? The boiling point of nitrogen, roughly. That's pretty cold.