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Underground > Laboratory >

Water on Saturn's moon

All Acting Regiment

18:46 / 10.03.06

Here's the link

I found out about this from boingboing.net

Our detailed analyses of these images have led us to a remarkable conclusion, documented in a paper [...] published in the journal SCIENCE [...], that the jets are erupting from pockets of liquid water, possibly as close to the surface as ten meters ... a surprising circumstance for a body so small and cold. Other Cassini instruments have found that the fractures on the surface and the plume itself contain simple organic materials, and that there is more heat on average emerging from the south polar terrain, per square meter, than from the Earth.

Gathering all the evidence and steeling ourselves for the "shockwave spread 'round the world", we find ourselves staring at the distinct possibility that we may have on Enceladus subterranean environments capable of supporting life. We may have just stumbled upon the Holy Grail of modern day planetary exploration. It doesn't get any more exciting than this.

A great deal more analysis and further exploration with Cassini must ensue before this implication becomes anything more than a suggestion. But at the moment, the prospects are staggering. Enceladus may have just taken center stage as the body in our solar system, outside the Earth, having the most easily accessible bodies of organic-rich water and, hence, significant biological potential...

Need I say anymore?

19:47 / 10.03.06

*Where is Saturn is in relation to us? Hang on...

Mother Very Early Makes Jam Sandwiches Under No Protest. OK, not right at the end of the solar system at least.

How big is Saturn's moon compared to, say, us?

All Acting Regiment

20:04 / 10.03.06

I think it's one of many moons. I'll find out.

All Acting Regiment

20:12 / 10.03.06

Here we go, courtesy of wikipedia

Enceladus (en-sel'-ə-dəs, IPA /ɛnˈsɛl ə dəs/, Greek Εγκέλαδος is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn, discovered in 1789 by William Herschel [10]. Despite its small size, Enceladus has a wide range of surface types ranging from old, heavily cratered surfaces to young, tectonically-deformed terrain. Outgassing near the south pole, the youthful age of the surface, and the presence of escaping internal heat indicate that Enceladus, and the south polar region in particular, is active today. Enceladus is one of only three outer solar system bodies (along with Jupiter's moon Io and Neptune's moon Triton) where active eruptions have been observed.

On March 9, 2006, scientists reported in the journal Science that the Cassini spacecraft had found evidence of liquid water on Enceladus. [11]

02:28 / 11.03.06

that wiki-pee is up to date!

saw this in the news somewhere, fantastic stuff...

now, let's get the us to use just five percent of its miltary budget and send something there to have good look about. i'll go. take a cut lunch, be orright, won't i?

but wow, really. imagine if we found some real viable life there. how would the world's religions respond, for one?

[and would we want to go nuke 'em before they come nuke us? maybe we can send them rabbits, foxes and cane toads....]

will we have to let miss enceladus in the miss universe contest?

07:36 / 11.03.06

If there is life -- which is a big 'if' -- there, statistically speaking, it would most likely be microscopic, though I for one would love there to be some Saturnian equivalents of tube worms.

I have the funny feeling that life, like planets, is all over the place (relatively speaking, there is a ton of vacuum out there too). We just have crappy tools at the moment, but hey, gives us something to work on.

21:04 / 11.03.06

(I like the concept of a "ton" of vacuum. Like a ton of nothing, huh?)

The Enceladus news is very exciting. There are a whole string of places by now with either ice or water. (Even Mercury is a "possible" and so is the Moon.) In a few places, Mars has the same conditions as some spots in Antarctica where peculiar ice bacteria grow. Imagine if *all* these places wind up having bacterial life. Imagine if it's all independently derived. That'll mean life follows water just about everywhere and that it'll all be different. Alternatively, what if it's all derived from the same origin? That would support the idea that comets may seed life precursors hither and yon, and it would also mean that alien life might not be all that different from our own. Fascinating either way.

(Tries to calm down.) Of course, we have to get out there first and see what's there, if anything.

All Acting Regiment

15:33 / 12.03.06

I'm glad this happened about the time of my Salvia experience. I'm feeling very positive about this, perhaps where otherwise I might not be...even if all they find is simple bacteria, it's life on another planet...

20:20 / 12.03.06

maybe all the bacteria out there are hallucinogenic and the point is to go out there and get elevated!

have you come down to earth again now, legba? : )

interesting point quixote. we may find us all dericed from a seed - then whence cometh that pod? - or we are all individuals, we are all different. but does this mean life follows water; or water follows life? (or of course the two are entirely co-incidental...)

so yes indeed - let's get out there and have a squizz. i'll go.