Enceladus has water, but we have the tea 🪐
Enceladus has water, but we have the tea:
We’ve known Enceladus is spewing ice grains and water rich with organic compounds from a giant plume – some of which are important to life. New analysis has found a strong confirmation of hydrogen cyanide, a molecule key to the origin of life.
That’s not all – researchers have found evidence of an ocean hiding below the moon’s icy outer shell, this also supports the giant plume with a supercharged source of energy. Unidentified in this study, the source is in the form of several organic compounds, some of which on Earth serve as fuel for organisms.
More chemical energy is brewing inside Saturn’s tiny moon than previously thought. The more energy available, the more likely that life might proliferate and be sustained.
Image description: The brightly reflective moon Enceladus appears before Saturn’s rings while the larger moon Titan looms in the distance. Enceladus (313 miles, or 504 kilometers across) is in the center of the image. Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers across) can faintly be seen in the background beyond the rings. This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Enceladus and the Saturn-facing side of Titan. The northern, sunlit side of the rings is seen from just above the ringplane.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
#NASA #Space #SolarSystem #Saturn #Moon #Icy #Astrobiology #NASAJPL
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17 December 2023
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