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Saturn's Moon Enceladus Has Underground Ocean

Posted by samzenpus on from the water-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean dept.

astroengine (1577233) writes "Gravity measurements made with the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft indicate the small moon Enceladus has an ocean sandwiched between its rocky core and icy shell, a finding that raises the prospects of a niche for life beyond Earth. The Cassini data shows the body of water, which is in the moon's southern hemisphere, must be as large or larger than Lake Superior and sitting on top of the moon's rocky core at a depth of about 31 miles. 'The ocean may extend halfway or more toward the equator in every direction,' said planetary scientist David Stevenson, with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena."

10 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. Fish filet is back! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Obligatory SMBC

  2. Life? I doubt it. by Viol8 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Its a tiny moon with very little energy internally and the rocky core has probably remained unchanged since the solar system was formed which means its unlikely to have much in the way of complex chemicals to kickstart anything. I doubt there's any subduction of the ice crust like on Europa so there's no way for anything to get down there either. If I was to lay money on it I'd say that water was about as sterile as you can get.

    But I hope I'm wrong.

    1. Re:Life? I doubt it. by invictusvoyd · · Score: 3, Informative

      If I was to lay money on it I'd say that water was about as sterile as you can get.

      In earths underwater volcanic vents the environment is highly toxic with a high concentration of sulphur . The temperatures go up to 500 deg C .Life still flourishes . It is not carbon based life as we know , it is sulphur based life , deriving its energy from the vents. I'm not saying that means life will exist on europa or other similar moons but it's a demonstration of how simple life can exist in the most unforgiving conditions

    2. Re:Life? I doubt it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Already pre-existing life adapting to living there is one thing - evolving there from base chemicals is another entirely.

      Except that hydrothermal vents are suspected to be a good contender for where life on Earth first evolved.

    3. Re:Life? I doubt it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It is not carbon based life as we know , it is sulphur based life ,

      It is still carbon based life as in they are still predominately made of carbon and made of the same building blocks as the rest of life on Earth. Their source of energy though is from a chemical process using the sulphur from vents, as opposed to the seemingly much more common use of photosynthesis and eating things with sugar, protein and fats.

  3. Re:In a perfect world by telchine · · Score: 2, Informative

    In my perfect world, everybody would care and I'd have seen this in the morning news.

    It's yesterday's news, so it would be stale by this morning. Or do you read dead trees?

    BBC had it on the front page last night.

  4. I guess we missed the fine print... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

    ...on the monolith declaring "All your worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landing there."

    "Oh, and also Enceladus on the next planet over. Thanks!"

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  5. Re:In a perfect world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With the absolute global meltdown of religion that would likely happen in the event of the world learning that life exists beyond our planet

    I doubt it. Religions have a long history of adapting their scriptures to whichever situation they find themselves in. "God created the Heavens and the Earth. That includes Enceladus, right? And He didn't say He didn't create other life, right? Know what this means? We need donations for an interplanetary missionary mission!"

  6. Re:huge leaps of science by Thanshin · · Score: 2

    That's a HUUUUUGEE set of massive leaps... wtf. and they wonder why people don't trust "science".

    Nobody wonders why ignorant people don't trust science. The reason is simple and ever unchanging. It's because they are ignorant.

  7. 2312 by Lanforod · · Score: 2

    Can't wait to ingest some enceladian alien bugs that will protect me from radiation!