On November 21, 2009, the Cassini spacecraft sliced past Saturn's moon Enceladus, shaving the iceball at a distance of 1600 km (1000 miles). From that distance, the view was astonishing...
It's been known for some time that the south pole of Enceladus is lousy with geysers, erupting water into space (though the ultimate source of the water is still a bit of a mystery). But this new pass shows 30 geysers, 20 more than were previously seen! One major geyser also appears to have waned a bit since the last pass, showing that not only is stuff going on, but things are changing, too.
This mosaic of the surface of Enceladus overlays a high-res optical image with thermal hot-spots. You can see that the hottest parts -- which are actually at -90° C (-140° F), so I guess "hot" is in the (frozen) eye of the beholder -- line up ...
