Once again, Saturn's moon, Enceladus is catching the interest of astronomers and biologists. This moon holds great potential for life because thanks to the Cassini Space Craft (made by NASA)orbiting Saturn, it has been observed that Enceladus' heat output is much greater than what was previously expected. Cassini's Probe gathered data from the fissures of the southern pole of Enceladus that showed the internal heat, most likely the heat from the suspected internal ocean is about 15.8 gigawatts which is the equivalent of 20 coal powered stations. That's a lot of heat! It is assumed that the heat is genereated by the tidal forces between its neighboring moon, Dione. Observing this much output of heat also contributes to the theory that an internal ocean lies within Enceladus.
This article interested me because I was already aware of the potential for liquid water to exist on Enceladus, and it's exciting to read that more data and observations are backing up this theory. And, if there's liquid water, then there is a greater chance of life to be present. It's always interesting to discover life on another planet or moon because it can give a better understanding of how they operate. Not only am I amazed that this moon probably harbors and internal ocean, but I am impressed with the technology we have created to gather such detailed data.
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WAY COOL! I didn't know that life on a moon was even possible. So the only way that they have evidence of life is from the possability of an underground ocean? Do they have any plans on more research to find this ocean? Is that even possible? It would be cool to see where their research goes from here.
ReplyDeleteI found this very interesting mainly because it is so interesting that people can figure these things out with probes that will gain data information that we wouldn't know about before! I thought that the water aspect of this article was very interesting! Very cool Ally!
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