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Microbes on Enceladus? (Moon of Saturn)

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posted on Mar, 28 2012 @ 12:06 AM
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I would not be surprised at all if there was oceans full of life on this moon and many others in the solar system. Who knows what kinds of species they would find there. Would they be anything like the life forms here on earth or something completely different. Microbes and organic matter in the spray seem to me, to be good signs that life may be there.

science.nasa.gov...


In a series of tantalizingly close flybys to the moon, named "Enceladus," NASA's Cassini spacecraft has revealed watery jets erupting from what may be a vast underground sea. These jets, which spew through cracks in the moon's icy shell, could lead back to a habitable zone that is uniquely accessible in all the solar system.





Thermal measurements of Enceladus's fissures have revealed temperatures as high as -120 deg Fahrenheit (190 Kelvin). "If you add up all the heat, 16 gigawatts of thermal energy are coming out of those cracks," says Porco.





The source of Enceladus's heat appears to be Saturn itself. Researchers say Saturn's gravitational pull causes the moon's shape to change slightly on a daily basis as it orbits. Flexing motions in its interior generate heat--like the heat you feel in a paperclip when you bend it back and forth rapidly.





posted on Mar, 28 2012 @ 12:14 AM
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Life on earth exists in extremes like this , in Antarctica. On the other side of temperature scale, in the benthic ocean, around Black Smokers, life is seen existing over the boiling point of water (212f).

Would it not be possible that life abounds around these fractures in small colonies? Fantastic.
S&F for the post, nice links for further reading...
edit on 28-3-2012 by charlyv because: spelling , where caught



posted on Mar, 28 2012 @ 12:46 AM
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Microbes can survive in molten lava, so I'm sure that moon wouldn't be a problem for them either. S+F



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