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Gravity controls icy moon Enceladus's spew (BBC)
By Melissa Hogenboom
Science reporter, BBC News
Saturn's gravitational pull is responsible for the extraordinary hot geysers on the Enceladus moon that spew water out into space.
The particles are ejected from active fissures known as "tiger stripes" at Enceladus' south pole.
Salt in the plumes suggest the water may come from a liquid ocean beneath its icy shell.
But it had been unclear what was ultimately driving the geological activity on this moon.
Writing in Nature, the team observed that the plume was four times brighter when Enceladus was furthest from Saturn.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23517808
abstract, figs, refs: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12371.html