Home > Ephemeris Program, Planetary Science, Space exploration > Ephemeris: 10/16/2026 – A look at Saturn’s amazing moon Enceladus

Ephemeris: 10/16/2026 – A look at Saturn’s amazing moon Enceladus

October 16, 2026 Leave a comment Go to comments

This is Ephemeris for Friday, October 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 6:56, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:00. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:26 this evening.

The most surprising of the many surprises of Saturn’s moons found by the Cassini spacecraft, 20 years ago, were the geysers erupting from the south polar region of the small moon Enceladus. A series of geysers emanating from deep fissures that looked like blue tigers stripes spewed forth a fine icy mist into the vacuum of space. It actually creates a ring around Saturn, called the E ring. It’s a very diffuse ring, not at all like the others, amd not visible from Earth. Enceladus has a diameter of about 310 miles, and a density of 1.6 times that of water. It is the most reflective body in the solar system, mainly because it travels within the E ring made of its own water ice that continually snows upon its surface.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Enceladus in a gibbous phase showing a pristine snow white surface with blue "tiger stripes" near its south pole.
Enceladus in a gibbous phase showing a pristine snow white surface with blue “tiger stripes” near its south pole. Credit: NASA/JPL.
Enceladus' south polar geysers create the E ring. The fine icy particles can only be seen looking back toward the sun. The background is the night face of Saturn, illuminnated by its rings.
Enceladus’ south polar geysers create the E ring. The fine icy particles can only be seen looking back toward the sun. The background is the night face of Saturn, illuminnated by its rings. Credit: NASA/JPL.
Enceladus, embedded in the E ring of its own making. Taken from the Cassini while in Saturn's shadow.
Enceladus, embedded in the E ring of its own making. Taken from the Cassini while in Saturn’s shadow. Credit: NASA/JPL.

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