BATMAN
03-09-2006, 01:00 PM
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/Enceladus_PIA06254_full-browse.jpg
The surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus is composed mostly of water ice and there may be a cold ocean beneath that holds some form of life, according to studies of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft last year.
``Any life that existed could not be luxuriant and would have to deal with low temperatures, feeble metabolic energy and perhaps a severe chemical environment,'' said Jeffrey Kargel of the hydrology and water resources department at the University of Arizona in Tucson. ``Nevertheless we cannot discount the possibility that Enceladus might be life's distant outpost.''
Images show a plume of gases and water spouting from the moon's southern pole, similar to the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park in the western U.S., said Andrew Ingersoll, a member of the Cassini imaging team and an atmospheric scientist at the California Institute of Technology.
He is the co-author of one of the studies, which are being published in tomorrow's edition of the journal Science.
Other moons, such as Jupiter's Europa, have oceans covered by ice more than a kilometer thick. On Enceladus, pockets of liquid water may be as close as 10 meters below the surface, Ingersoll said.
The underground reservoirs may hold some extreme form of life, Kargel said.
``It's a big leap, but at least the ingredients are there,'' Ingersoll said in a telephone interview from Pasadena, California.
Enceladus, one of Saturn's 47 moons, was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1789. It is the size of France and orbits Saturn about every 1.4 days.
The Cassini spacecraft, which has been circling the planet since July 2004, flew by the moon three times between February and July of 2005.
The observations make Enceladus the fourth known body in the solar system with active volcanoes, in addition to Earth, Jupiter's moon Io and Neptune's moon Triton, said John Spencer, a scientist with the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, in a statement. The moon is also the third known body, besides Earth and Io, with internal heat that can be measured remotely.
The plume likely spews liquid water, which breaks down into oxygen and hydrogen that travels thousands of kilometers into Saturn's atmosphere, where it helps to replenish the planet's so- called E ring. Some of the material may fall back to the surface of the moon as snow.
Cassini will fly by the moon again in 2008. Yet the spacecraft won't be able to verify that life exists, Kargel wrote, and Ingersoll said the findings may lead to a future NASA mission to Enceladus.
The surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus is composed mostly of water ice and there may be a cold ocean beneath that holds some form of life, according to studies of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft last year.
``Any life that existed could not be luxuriant and would have to deal with low temperatures, feeble metabolic energy and perhaps a severe chemical environment,'' said Jeffrey Kargel of the hydrology and water resources department at the University of Arizona in Tucson. ``Nevertheless we cannot discount the possibility that Enceladus might be life's distant outpost.''
Images show a plume of gases and water spouting from the moon's southern pole, similar to the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park in the western U.S., said Andrew Ingersoll, a member of the Cassini imaging team and an atmospheric scientist at the California Institute of Technology.
He is the co-author of one of the studies, which are being published in tomorrow's edition of the journal Science.
Other moons, such as Jupiter's Europa, have oceans covered by ice more than a kilometer thick. On Enceladus, pockets of liquid water may be as close as 10 meters below the surface, Ingersoll said.
The underground reservoirs may hold some extreme form of life, Kargel said.
``It's a big leap, but at least the ingredients are there,'' Ingersoll said in a telephone interview from Pasadena, California.
Enceladus, one of Saturn's 47 moons, was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1789. It is the size of France and orbits Saturn about every 1.4 days.
The Cassini spacecraft, which has been circling the planet since July 2004, flew by the moon three times between February and July of 2005.
The observations make Enceladus the fourth known body in the solar system with active volcanoes, in addition to Earth, Jupiter's moon Io and Neptune's moon Triton, said John Spencer, a scientist with the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, in a statement. The moon is also the third known body, besides Earth and Io, with internal heat that can be measured remotely.
The plume likely spews liquid water, which breaks down into oxygen and hydrogen that travels thousands of kilometers into Saturn's atmosphere, where it helps to replenish the planet's so- called E ring. Some of the material may fall back to the surface of the moon as snow.
Cassini will fly by the moon again in 2008. Yet the spacecraft won't be able to verify that life exists, Kargel wrote, and Ingersoll said the findings may lead to a future NASA mission to Enceladus.