--- title: See a New Close-Up of Saturn's Icy Moon Enceladus description: It was taken from just 30 miles above the surface canonical: https://time.com/4095051/saturn-icy-moon-enceladus/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-30T21:19:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:14:33.547Z article:section: Science og:title: See a New Close-Up of Saturn's Icy Moon og:description: It was taken from just 30 miles above the surface og:url: https://time.com/4095051/saturn-icy-moon-enceladus/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcccd5c4fa2473c4/69886effcf40a837c9c406f4/n00250047.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: n00250047 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See a New Close-Up of Saturn's Icy Moon twitter:description: It was taken from just 30 miles above the surface twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcccd5c4fa2473c4/69886effcf40a837c9c406f4/n00250047.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See a New Close-Up of Saturn's Icy Moon  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 30, 2015 9:19 PM UTC  This unprocessed view of Saturn's moon Enceladus was acquired by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during a close flyby of the icy moon on Oct. 28, 2015. This unprocessed view of Saturn's moon Enceladus was acquired by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during a close flyby of the icy moon on Oct. 28, 2015.JPL-Caltech—Space Science Institute/NASA  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 30, 2015 9:19 PM UTC NASA released new photos of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus Friday, taken when a probe flew just 30 miles above its surface. This picture, taken in a flyby by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, is one of the closest images of the moon yet. “Cassini’s stunning images are providing us a quick look at Enceladus from this ultra-close flyby, but some of the most exciting science is yet to come,” [said](http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/saturns-geyser-moon-shines-in-close-flyby-views) Linda Spilker, the project scientist for the mission, in a statement. Cassini also took samples of ice particles and gas as it passed near Enceladus, which will be tested and analyzed for insights on the vast ocean beneath Enceladus’s surface. Scientists will be looking for evidence of hypothermic activity on the ocean floor, which could make the small moon a target of future exploration for a habitable environment outside Earth. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4095051/saturn-icy-moon-enceladus/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4095051/saturn-icy-moon-enceladus/"},"headline":"See a New Close-Up of Saturn's Icy Moon","datePublished":"2015-10-30T21:19:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:14:33.547Z","description":"It was taken from just 30 miles above the surface","url":"https://time.com/4095051/saturn-icy-moon-enceladus/","keywords":["Space","NASA","saturn"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcccd5c4fa2473c4/69886effcf40a837c9c406f4/n00250047.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcccd5c4fa2473c4/69886effcf40a837c9c406f4/n00250047.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"n00250047","caption":"This unprocessed view of Saturn's moon Enceladus was acquired by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during a close flyby of the icy moon on Oct. 28, 2015.","creditText":"JPL-Caltech—Space Science Institute/NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4095051/saturn-icy-moon-enceladus/","name":"See a New Close-Up of Saturn's Icy Moon"}}]}] ```