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Signs of Water Found On Saturnian Moon Enceladus

Posted by Soulskill on from the moon-names-that-make-me-hungry dept.

Matt_dk writes "Scientists working on the Cassini space mission have found negatively charged water ions in the ice plume of Enceladus. Their findings, based on analysis from data taken in plume fly-throughs in 2008 and reported in the journal Icarus, provide evidence for the presence of liquid water, which suggests the ingredients for life inside the icy moon. The Cassini plasma spectrometer, used to gather this data, also found other species of negatively charged ions including hydrocarbons."

7 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. I like enchiladas by spun · · Score: 1, Funny

    But they shouldn't be too watery. Enchiladas are a casserole, not a soup.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    1. Re:I like enchiladas by spun · · Score: 3, Funny

      I like echidnas too but they're not food!

      I take it you've never had echidna enchiladas. Once you pick out the spines, they're delicious.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    2. Re:I like enchiladas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Have you tried a Knuckles Sandwich?

  2. Hydrocarbons? by KDR_11k · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does that mean oil?

    I think I hear NASA's budget skyrocketing.

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    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  3. Re:The pendulum swinging by elysiana · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aha, we have now obtained your true identity! You can come forward, Mr. Anonymous Coward. The game is up.

  4. Re:The pendulum swinging by still+cynical · · Score: 2, Funny

    If there is life on any moon of Saturn, what makes you think they'd be reliant on solar power? For all we know this life could be decades behind us technologically, and still burning wood and coal. Or they could be more advanced, and using fusion. After all, if they have liquid water they have the necessary materials to put out fires AND cool reactors!

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    Ignorance is the root of all evil.
  5. Re:The pendulum swinging by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 1, Funny

    . I fully expect we'll end up finding life a lot more frequently than we expect at the moment.

    So you expect to find more than we(thus you) expect at the moment. Holy crap, you are stuck in a feedback loop of ever growing expectations. If you expectations are not bound by time and you are simply expecting more with every moment by now you already expect to find an infinite amount of life.

    These self-replicating expectations are dangerous things. As I expect you know.

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