Enceladus tagged posts

Scientists find Evidence of Complex Organic Molecules from Enceladus

Cassini discovered complex organic molecules erupting from Enceladus into space. Southwest Research Institute scientists think hydrothermal processes in the moon’s rocky core could synthesize organics from inorganic precursors. Alternatively, these processes could be transforming preexisting organics by heating, or they could generate geochemical conditions in the ocean of Enceladus that would allow possible forms of alien life to synthesize biological molecules. Credit: Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/LPG-CNRS/Nantes-Angers/ESA

Cassini discovered complex organic molecules erupting from Enceladus into space. Southwest Research Institute scientists think hydrothermal processes in the moon’s rocky core could synthesize organics from inorganic precursors. Alternatively, these processes could be transforming preexisting organics by heating, or they could generate geochemical conditions in the ocean of Enceladus that would allow possible forms of alien life to synthesize biological molecules. Credit: Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/LPG-CNRS/Nantes-Angers/ESA

Discovery indicates Saturn’s moon meets critical requirements for life...

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Holographic Imaging could be used to Detect Signs of Life in Space

Plumes water ice and vapor spray from many locations near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus, as documented by the Cassini-Huygens mission. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Plumes water ice and vapor spray from many locations near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, as documented by the Cassini-Huygens mission. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Engineers explore ways to sample and identify living microbes in the outer solar system. Digital holographic microscopy, which uses lasers to record 3D images, may be our best bet for spotting extraterrestrial microbes. No probe since NASA’s Viking program in the late 1970s has explicitly searched for extraterrestrial life – that is, for actual living organisms. Rather, the focus has been on finding water. Enceladus has a lot of water – an ocean’s worth, hidden beneath an icy shell that coats the entire surface...

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Surprise methanol detection points to evolving story of Saturn’s moon Enceladus’s plumes

NASA image of Enceladus within the E-ring in orbit around Saturn, where it is possible that the methanol detection could originate further out in the E-ring. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute. Click for a larger image

NASA image of Enceladus within the E-ring in orbit around Saturn, where it is possible that the methanol detection could originate further out in the E-ring. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute. Click for a larger image

 
A serendipitous detection of the organic molecule methanol around an intriguing moon of Saturn suggests that material spewed from Enceladus undertakes a complex chemical journey once vented into space. This is the first time that a molecule from Enceladus has been detected with a ground-based telescope. Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder, of Cardiff University, will present the results on Tuesday 4th July at the National Astronomy Meeting at the University of Hull.
 
Enceladus’s plumes are thought to originate in water escaping from a subsurface ocean t...
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New Insights into ‘Ocean Worlds’ in our Solar System

This graphic illustrates how Cassini scientists think water interacts with rock at the bottom of the ocean of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, producing hydrogen gas. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Southwest Research Institute

This graphic illustrates how Cassini scientists think water interacts with rock at the bottom of the ocean of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, producing hydrogen gas. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Southwest Research Institute

Two veteran NASA missions are providing new details about icy, ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn, further heightening the scientific interest of these and other “ocean worlds” in our solar system and beyond. Cassini scientists announce that a form of chemical energy that life can feed on appears to exist on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, and Hubble reports additional evidence of plumes erupting from Jupiter’s moon Europa.

“This is the closest we’ve come, so far, to identifying a place with some of the ingredients needed for a habitable environment,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, as...

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