Saturn Moon Has Geysers, Hinting Life Is a Possibility - New York Times:
By KENNETH CHANG
With newly discovered signs of liquid water, a moon of Saturn joins the small, highly select group of places in the solar system that could plausibly support life.
The moon, Enceladus, is only 300 miles wide, and usually something that small is nothing more than a frozen chunk of ice and rock. Instead, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted eruptions of icy crystals, which hint at pockets of liquid water near the surface.
'It's startling,' said Carolyn C. Porco of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., leader of the imaging team for Cassini. Nine scientific papers about Enceladus (pronounced en-SELL-ah-dus), appear in today's issue of Science. 'I wouldn't be surprised to see the planetary community clamoring for a future exploratory expedition to land on the south polar terrain of Enceladus,' said Dr. Porco, lead author of one of the papers. 'We have found an environment that is potentially suitable for living organisms.'
Life requires at least three ingredients — water, heat and carbon-based molecules — and Enceladus may possess all three. As Cassini flew through the plumes of vapor and ice crystals rising into space from the eruptions, it also detected simple carbon-based molecules like methane and carbon dioxide, which suggest more complicated carbon molecules may lie on the moon's surface.
The lack of a crater suggests that the heat is not the result of a meteor's impact. Based on initial observations, some scientists think that this warm region near the south pole may have persisted for billions of years, sufficient time for life to arise.
'It's an exciting place,' said James W. Head III, a professor of geological sciences at Brown University, who was not involved with any of the research reported in today's Science. 'That's what exploration is all about. You go out there. It isn't A. It isn't B. It isn't C. It's D, none of the above.'"
By KENNETH CHANG
With newly discovered signs of liquid water, a moon of Saturn joins the small, highly select group of places in the solar system that could plausibly support life.
The moon, Enceladus, is only 300 miles wide, and usually something that small is nothing more than a frozen chunk of ice and rock. Instead, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted eruptions of icy crystals, which hint at pockets of liquid water near the surface.
'It's startling,' said Carolyn C. Porco of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., leader of the imaging team for Cassini. Nine scientific papers about Enceladus (pronounced en-SELL-ah-dus), appear in today's issue of Science. 'I wouldn't be surprised to see the planetary community clamoring for a future exploratory expedition to land on the south polar terrain of Enceladus,' said Dr. Porco, lead author of one of the papers. 'We have found an environment that is potentially suitable for living organisms.'
Life requires at least three ingredients — water, heat and carbon-based molecules — and Enceladus may possess all three. As Cassini flew through the plumes of vapor and ice crystals rising into space from the eruptions, it also detected simple carbon-based molecules like methane and carbon dioxide, which suggest more complicated carbon molecules may lie on the moon's surface.
The lack of a crater suggests that the heat is not the result of a meteor's impact. Based on initial observations, some scientists think that this warm region near the south pole may have persisted for billions of years, sufficient time for life to arise.
'It's an exciting place,' said James W. Head III, a professor of geological sciences at Brown University, who was not involved with any of the research reported in today's Science. 'That's what exploration is all about. You go out there. It isn't A. It isn't B. It isn't C. It's D, none of the above.'"
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