Another of Saturn's Moons Shown To Have Oceans — and Possibly Extraterrestrial Life

Another of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, has been proven to have water...in fact, oceans. The moon has volcanic type jets shooting from it's surface, and faults very similiar to the San Andreas fault here on Earth. It has shown that the moon has oceans with hot water...This is significant, because scientists think it could support some sort of biological life forms. I think the next few years will be very interesting...Cassini is discovering so much!

"Cassini's seven-plus years ... have shown us how beautifully dynamic and unexpected the Saturn system is," says project scientist Linda Spilker at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The idea that that system might also be a living one has just become a little more plausible.

Soruce: www.time.com...

Interesting. I'm looking forward to see if there will be any further research on this. Or will it be held back by a certain government? :O

Thanks for posting, those pics are awesome! I really believe there is a lot more in space than a human brain can comprehend. I guess if the theory that we were placed here on Earth by some alien race is true, they could have placed 'life' on other planets/moons as well.

Or it could prove evolution..........

Or it could prove God (i use the term loosely) really is omnipotent..........

S&F

reply to post by SLO7H


I am as well. There is so much we don't know....I doubt if our minds can even understand what is actually out there.

Wow nice pictures ! Imagine waking up in your little space ship look out your window and see that. The thing is if there is any form of significant life for example a bug or spider of some kind, what would stop from there a possibilty of intelligent life forms.

reply to post by 8om8er


LOL...we said the same thing in the last 2 posts. I don't believe we can fully comprehend it either. I mean if you look at a picture of a small section of the universe, which contains so MANY galaxies....and that small picture of that section is extremely small in the big picture....there is no way that we can imagine it. This article shows one moon in our little solar system....then there are others in our very solar system which could have some type of biological organisms.....and our solar system is but a spec in the grand scheme of things....not even THAT really.....it's mind blowing!

reply to post by StealthyKat


I think it is important to note that the plumes themselves are water ice

"There are two types of particles coming from Enceladus, one pure water-ice, the other water-ice mixed with other stuff," said Sascha Kempf, deputy principal investigator for Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyzer at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. "We think the clean water-ice particles are being bounced off the surface and the dirty water-ice particles are coming from inside the moon.

Several gases, including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, perhaps a little ammonia and either carbon monoxide or nitrogen gas make up the gaseous envelope of the plume.

JPLsource

The Methane, Ammonia and Carbon Monoxide are always fascinating finds. We have another flyby within 46 miles coming up in just 2 days. From what little I have seen the Cassini team has been fairly mum regarding the plume composition since the 2008 Enceladus flyby...

reply to post by iforget


Right! I think there are going to be some interesting findings there....time will tell. They are like geysers of water.

Cassini is going to fly into one of those water geysers to get samples....

The source of the geysers is of great interest to scientists who think liquid water, perhaps even an ocean, may exist in the area. While flying through the edge of the plumes, Cassini will be approximately 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the surface. At closest approach to Enceladus, Cassini will be only 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the moon.

saturn.jpl.nasa.gov...

reply to post by StealthyKat

During March of 2010 [and previously in 2008], the Cassini spacecraft tasted and sampled a surprising organic brew erupting in geyser-like fashion not from Yellowstone National Park, but from Saturn's moon Enceladus during a close flyby.

"A completely unexpected surprise is that the chemistry of Enceladus, what's coming out from inside, resembles that of a comet," said Hunter Waite, principal investigator for the Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "To have primordial material coming out from inside a Saturn moon raises many questions on the formation of the Saturn system."

The Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer saw a much higher density of volatile gases, water vapour, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as organic materials, some twenty times denser than expected. This dramatic increase in density was evident as the spacecraft flew over the area of the plumes.

The first step toward answering the question of whether life exists inside the subsurface aquifer of Enceladus is to analyze the organic compounds in the plume.

source

reply to post by iforget


Thanks for that....I wasn't aware it was already done....that's what I get for posting before I finish my coffee after working all night..

OK
I have bolted some very big firecrackers onto my sail boat...

a very nice thread to drink while reading my coffee

Here's another great pic showing the geysers


At least four distinct plumes of water ice spew out from the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus in this dramatically illuminated image. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Here's an interesting article on it.
www.saturndaily.com...

reply to post by StealthyKat

I don't blame you as from what I can see since the 2008 fly through the data coming out regarding the analysis of these plumes has been rather scant. I suppose it is most likely that Cassini may not be equipped to draw the conclusions that clearly many of the scientists involved are leaning towards. but then what do I know fascinating stuff regardless

reply to post by iforget


Indeed it is....I love the pics of it! What really fascinates me is just think of all the possible places like that in the universe....there is NO way we are the only life....the odds are against that.

maybe we will discover there IS intelligent life in the universe...

Velikovski figured Venus was a trapped comet
I wonder what happened to that theory other then it wasn't PC
It sure looks like this moon is exibiting comet like behavior

reply to post by Danbones


It's curious for sure. In the article I read, it said that it it was like a mirror reflecting light.....extremely bright.

reply to post by Danbones

a very nice thread to drink while reading my coffee

Thank you Dan..... Glad you enjoyed it.

I wish I would have found THESE pics for my OP....these are actual pics Cassini took during the flyby....incredible!

reply to post by StealthyKat

Look at those pictures, I can't help but think it will explode. It looks like a balloon.