Deriving Spectral Maps from JWST Data: A Study of Enceladus’ Plumes

This study explores the presence of water vapor in the plumes of Enceladus, a moon in the Saturnian system, through observations conducted by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Enceladus is believed to harbor a subsurface ocean or localized water reservoir that gives rise to water geysers, expelling vapor into its tenuous atmosphere and outer space. Since the James Webb Space Telescope observed the satellite with its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument for the first time, it remains uncertain whether the obtained results are consistent with previous missions or if the instrument is even capable of conducting detailed examinations of the plumes.
Hence, the primary objective of this research is to gain insights into the methodology of conducting scientific investigations of Enceladus and to understand the available data. More specifically, the aim is to verify the presence of water vapor in the plumes of the moon through a comprehensive analysis of the obtained data. The approach involves deriving spectral maps and extracting residual spectra that are used for comparisons with a reference spectrum entailing known water vapor absorption features. The results reveal distinct absorption peaks in the extracted spectra that closely resemble the features of water vapor. Additionally, the calculated column density of 6.25 - 8.25E+14 cm-2 closely aligns with observations from the Herschel Space Observatory and Cassini mission.
This outcome strongly supports the hypothesis that water vapor is present in the plumes of Enceladus, verifying the feasibility of using the James Webb Space Telescope for detecting and studying the characteristics of Enceladus' plumes.