The highly-reflective surface of Saturn’s icy moon, Enceladus, indicates the presence and abundance of consistently fresh surface ice, like no other moon in the Solar System. (NASA / CASSINI-HUYGENS MISSION / IMAGING SCIENCE SUBSYSTEM)

Happy 230th Birthday, Enceladus, Our Solar System’s Greatest Hope For Life Beyond Earth

In 1789, William Herschel discovered this unique moon around Saturn. 230 years later, its secrets are more promising than ever.

Today marks the 230th anniversary of the discovery of Enceladus, one of the most unique and puzzling worlds of our Solar System. Its discoverer, William Herschel, had become famous across the world for his serendipitous discovery, back in 1781, of the 7th planet in our Solar System: Uranus. Herschel was catapulted to stardom for this, and was granted anything he wanted to continue his studies by King George of England.

Unsurprisingly, he chose to build what was then the world’s most powerful telescope, which he used to observe the skies as never before. With unsurpassed resolution and light-gathering power, he could see moons and nebulae that were invisible to all previous astronomers. In 1789, he saw a small, white speck around Saturn: its moon Enceladus. Although it remained little more than a speck for 200 years, it’s renowned today as perhaps the most promising location for life beyond Earth in all the Solar System.