Pluto has been grabbing the headlines, but Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus is easier to visit and more likely to host life.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made its closest fly-by of the moon’s north pole on 14 October and is sending back stunning images of the frigid, cratered landscape.
Enceladus’ claim to fame are the giant geysers of salty water spraying from its south pole, which Cassini spotted shortly after arriving at the Saturn system in 2005. Since then, we’ve seen evidence that the moon has a deep, perhaps global underground ocean, and that it could keep itself warm inside with hydrothermal vents – a boon for anything living there.