Enceladus Could Have an Ocean Capable of Sustaining Life
Published by Enceladus is one of Saturn’s moon, and recently became one of the most studied bodies of solar system. Let’s see why.
Enceladus (in greek Εγκέλαδος) is a natural satellite of Saturn, discovered August 28, 1789 by William Herschel. It’s the sixth satellite of Saturn.
Enceladus recently became one of the most studied body of solar system. Let’s see why.
New data from the Cassini spacecraft show that Saturn’s moon may hide an ocean beneath its surface capable of sustaining life. This could explain the huge plumes of water splashing into space through cracks at the south pole, known as “tiger stripes”.
Click the image to see it in its normal size.
“Geophysical experts thought that Enceladus was a ball of ice, so it was far from being interesting.” said Dennis Matson, NASA planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Instead, scientists have discovered over time not only the presence of huge plumes of fluids, but they contain water vapor, ice particles and organic compounds.
Matson explained that researchers nowadays think that under the surface there is an ocean and closer to the surface there are pockets of water with a temperature close to 0 ° C, which gives rise to plumes.
Cassini has found traces of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and various hydrocarbons in the gas escaping from plumes.
In 2009, the tool used analyze the cosmic dust near Enceladus discovered traces of sodium and potassium, along with other carbonates and ice particles. This has significantly increased the odds of an ocean beneath the surface.
The most recent measurements on the temperature show that the cracks can reach nearly 82K. “We can consider them like volcanic places” says Matson.
Analysis made with the spectrometer on Cassini spacecraft. Credit: Cassini, NASA.
“The heat must come from within, strong enough to melt the ice, creating a complex and dynamic network under the ocean surface.” says Matson, suggesting that water can make its way to the surface because it is full of gas melted by the heat.
“Since density of fizzy water is lower than density of the surface (which is made of ice), the liquid ascends quickly through it. A part of this water will go into this pockets under the surface, increasing with time until a sufficient pressure to burst through small cracks in the ground is reached.”
According to Matson, the remaining water cools and falls back down to the ocean to begin the process again.
“The friction caused by this tidal effect ends up being the engine of the whole hydrological system.”
He says, however, that Enceladus is too small to hold a lot of heat caused by internal friction, and moreover this hypothesis does not explain the anomalous concentration around the south pole, near the tiger stripes. “The cause of this localization is still a great mystery” said Prentice.
Click the following images to see them in their original size.
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On February 1, 2011 at 5:07 am
It is possible that humans could have a future base on Saturn, but space travel really needs to be updated for the 21st Century. The price tag is still far too high. Great share!
On February 1, 2011 at 11:25 am
This article could have been written a little better. Please, leave the science talk to the scientists. Also, anndavey650, it would be far too impractical to put a “base” on Saturn considering it is a gas giant. It would be far more likely to have a base on one of the terrestrial moons.
On February 1, 2011 at 11:31 am
‘New data from the Cassini spacecraft show that Saturn’s moons, may hidden an ocean beneath its surface capable of sustaining life.’
You sure do English gooer than most.
On February 1, 2011 at 9:51 pm
In the seventh paragraph, shouldn’t that be 82°K instead of 82°C?
On February 1, 2011 at 10:28 pm
82°C Really? If you are going by the picture, the units of temperature on the picture are kelvin, so by looking at the picture, the temperature should be 82K. Which is very, very cold. Converted to celsius it would be -191.15°C.
On February 5, 2011 at 11:22 am
This was terrific, as all your stuff seems to be. I love sci-fi ans Isaac Asimovv, and I love what you post about space. Hope you can find time to tale a look at one or two of my offerings and post comments? That would be reall…y great.
On March 7, 2011 at 7:36 am
Mike, those are some randomly generated suggestion from the site that may fit the content of the article you’re actually displaying. It’s a feature of this site, in order to make a user view more articles related to the same topic.
Plus, if you take a look at those articles, you will see I’m not the author of them.
On April 29, 2011 at 3:10 pm
This is great news for future space travel because discovering an ocean that might sustain life is another reason we should be designing Casini Mark 2 so we can continue our robotic explorations. I doubt humans will reach Saturn for another few centuries. Put this way how can we dream of sending humans to Saturn when we can’t even leave our Earth neighbourhood.