Heidelberg, Germany - According to scientists, extraterrestrial life could evolve on one of Saturn's moons. They found evidence of seas may extend under the frozen surface of Enceladus, the 6th largest moon of the planet.
The Cassini spacecraft of NASA has found "geysers" of ice and salt water gushing hundreds of kilometers above the surface of Enceladus. Since then, scientists debated whether this ball of ice and rock hides a reservoir of liquid water.
Dr. Frank Postberg, the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, studied data collector Cassini has discovered that he had taken grains of salt the ice geyser. Their presence is an evidence of the presence of lakes, reservoirs or sea salt on Enceladus. The researchers want to determine whether those geysers can come from a large tank or "mere" pockets of water trapped under the crust.
Until very recently, most astronomers had rejected the possibility of the existence of life in the solar system, but the latest space missions have shown that marine life forms could exist on the moons orbiting Saturn or Jupiter. "If this large amount of water is in contact with rocky bodies and that there is heat, then the conditions are favorable," says Dr. Postberg. "At the top, we measured a value of slightly alkaline pH, which is good for the formation of complex organic molecules.
Enceladus is one of three moons of the solar system that generates eruptions of gas and dust. With Earth, Mars and Europe, a moon of Jupiter is one of the only places in the solar system, where astronomers have found traces of water.
The Cassini spacecraft of NASA has found "geysers" of ice and salt water gushing hundreds of kilometers above the surface of Enceladus. Since then, scientists debated whether this ball of ice and rock hides a reservoir of liquid water.
Dr. Frank Postberg, the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, studied data collector Cassini has discovered that he had taken grains of salt the ice geyser. Their presence is an evidence of the presence of lakes, reservoirs or sea salt on Enceladus. The researchers want to determine whether those geysers can come from a large tank or "mere" pockets of water trapped under the crust.
Until very recently, most astronomers had rejected the possibility of the existence of life in the solar system, but the latest space missions have shown that marine life forms could exist on the moons orbiting Saturn or Jupiter. "If this large amount of water is in contact with rocky bodies and that there is heat, then the conditions are favorable," says Dr. Postberg. "At the top, we measured a value of slightly alkaline pH, which is good for the formation of complex organic molecules.
Enceladus is one of three moons of the solar system that generates eruptions of gas and dust. With Earth, Mars and Europe, a moon of Jupiter is one of the only places in the solar system, where astronomers have found traces of water.
Moons of Saturn
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