Salt in Enceladus geyser points to liquid ocean

Salt in Enceladus geyser points to liquid ocean

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THE ice plumes that bloom above Saturn's icy moon Enceladus are almost certainly rooted in a subsurface sea of liquid water.

The Cassini spacecraft flew through a plume on 9 October 2008 and measured the molecular weight of chemicals in the ice. Frank Postberg of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany, and colleagues, found traces of sodium in the form of salt and sodium bicarbonate. The chemicals would have originated in the rocky core of Enceladus, so to reach a plume they must have leached from the core via liquid water. Observations from Earth in 2007 spott

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says Julie Castillo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "It is easier to imagine that the salts are present in a liquid ocean below the surface," she says. "That's why this detection, if confirmed, is very important."

A massive ocean of liquid water on one of saturns moons? forget water droplets on the legs of the mars phoenix lander! we got an ocean!!!

If the results are confirmed it has to say a lot about life in the universe when the basic elements for life seem to be abundant in our local if not inhospitable(to us) location .

TEEMING with life of some sort is my guess

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Great stuff. I mean if we find life in the lake volstok which is i believe the name of the lake deep down in antarctica, then that will lead to a lot of hope of finding life on europa and enceladus.


But as far as life in the universe goes....just because life on earth uses water doesnt mean alien life can survive off magma like how we do with water. I mean that would be alien of them to do. If you believe in evolution then surley you would have to believe that through evolution and survival of the fittest life has managed to sprout up and strive in all sorts of places, that it has evolved for.

one thing about life...there is a big difference between a one-cell life form and a being like us or more advanced...but this is great news.

Originally posted by jimmyx
one thing about life...there is a big difference between a one-cell life form and a being like us or more advanced...but this is great news.

Actually i sorta disagree. if nasa announced they had found a single cell organism on another planet in my opinion .. at the moment this would be Massive news, and a step forward .... besides if they do ever find single-cell creatures elsewhere they will probably say they came from earth anyway blasted off in asteroid collisions eons ago.

reply to post by jimmyx

one thing about life...there is a big difference between a one-cell life form and a being like us or more advanced...but this is great news.

I have to dissagree. According to many programs I have watched on the discovery channel, this is how life on earth started. It would be interesting to watch and learn about these things, that could be ancesters in many generations to life forms similar to us, live and thrive.

Originally posted by jimmyx
one thing about life...there is a big difference between a one-cell life form and a being like us or more advanced...but this is great news.

You mean time? I am not saying there is intelligent life on the level of or beyond humans since that does take very special and specific circumstances. But when looking at this planet (and it is the ONLY planet we have explored in great detail) you find life of all kinds everywhere.

It is as if life strives to exist as opposed to being a rarity.

Originally posted by jimmyx
one thing about life...there is a big difference between a one-cell life form and a being like us or more advanced...but this is great news.

Not really... not according to those who continue to say Earth is the only hospitable place for life. Those folks don't even expect to find single-cell life forms.

And btw, we all started from a single cell anyway...

This is good news. We've found our re-fueling point on our way further outward... to... well, the rest of the solar system... eventually.

Either way, good to know.