Which Saturn moon is the parent body of the E ring?

Enceladus is the parent body and principal source of material forming Saturn’s E ring.

The E ring is a broad, extremely diffuse ring made mainly of tiny ice particles. Unlike Saturn’s bright main rings, it is not primarily a dense sheet of orbiting debris. Much of its material comes from plumes erupting through fractures near Enceladus’s south pole, especially the features nicknamed “tiger stripes.”

Cassini observations linked the ring directly to those jets. Water vapour and icy grains escape from Enceladus; some fall back onto the moon, while other particles spread along its orbit and populate the E ring. The ring is brightest near Enceladus, providing an important clue to its source.

Enceladus’s activity also transformed scientists’ understanding of the moon. Cassini found evidence for a global subsurface ocean beneath its icy crust, making the small moon a major target in the search for potentially habitable environments. Tethys, Rhea, and Mimas orbit within Saturn’s system, but they do not supply the E ring.