Moon Rains Water on Saturn

[Ricky]

Source - http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/188094/20110727/moon-rain-water-saturn-enceladus.htm

NASA handout photo showing water and ice fissures on Saturn's
moon Enceladus.

Moon Rains Water on Saturn in Baffling Phenomenon

"There is no analogy to this behaviour on Earth," said Paul Hartogh of Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, the scientist who led the analysis that yielded the odd results.

Hartogh and other scientists who analyzed information from European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel space observatory concluded that one of Saturn moons, called Enceladus, is raining water vapors that form a huge donut-shaped ring around Saturn.

Furthermore, it's dropping water vapor right in Saturn's atmosphere. So far, it's also the only moon in the solar system to influence the chemical composition of its parent planet.

Enceladus rains about 250 kg of water vapour per second, according to the ESA. At this volume, the vapors can get through to Saturn despite some being lost in space, falling to other Saturn moons, and freezing on Saturn's rings.

About three to five percent of the water expelled from Enceladus end up on Saturn, according to ESA estimates. Ultimately, the water vapor is transported to the lower levels of the planet in small amounts.

The water vapors come from the moon's south polar region. The exact origin of the water and why it's spewing from Enceladus is unclear.

However, one hypothesis is that the vapor originates from an underground of reservoir of saltwater in Enceladus, according an analysis by Frank Postberg of Heidelberg University, reported Scientific American.

"Herschel has proved its worth again. These are observations that only Herschel can make," said Göran Pilbratt, ESA Herschel Project Scientist.

The puzzling existence of water vapors in Saturn's atmosphere was first discovered in 1997 by the ESA. Now, 14 years later, the ESA is one step closer to solving this mystery.

All i can think of is, where there's water, there's life ......

 

[the_dealer]

Woah. That's awesome xD
I love astronomy, and planets etc.

 

[Dave.]

that's amazing, i hope they find some life on another plant soon, i find space so fascinating i read all the books on space that i can get my hands on :3

 

[Add My Msn]

I always wanted to become an astronaut. I love to see what space looks like. Hopefully there is life on Saturn.

 

[oxodium]

Possibly micro germs? Interesting find Panic

 

[Tyler]

Source - http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/188094/20110727/moon-rain-water-saturn-enceladus.htm

NASA handout photo showing water and ice fissures on Saturn's
moon Enceladus.



All i can think of is, where there's water, there's life ......

Well that's a horrible equivlancy. although water is one of the main things needed for a stable ecosystem to grow, there is alot more that is missing from Saturn. Surely just the distance it is from our Sun, is enough to say that life will not orgionate from there.

 

[eias]

Well that's a horrible equivlancy. although water is one of the main things needed for a stable ecosystem to grow, there is alot more that is missing from Saturn. Surely just the distance it is from our Sun, is enough to say that life will not orgionate from there.

Life on Saturn surely can be "facilitated" if there's water, but i agree that it won't be as stable as Earth.

 

[xx Sean]

Wow, that's awesome. I'm really curious now as to what can be up there.

 

[Conclusionz]

Quite interesting, I do believe where there is water there is life because water can help many things such as trees growing etc to produce oxygen.

 

[Old English]

Anyone who believes we're alone in this universe is very narrow minded, this is AWESOME, can't wait for scientists to find out more about the planets in line with us, hopefully in my lifetime there's some new life-form discovered.

 

[Lym]

There most likely is life, but life we can't yet detect.

The possibilities are infinite.

 

[Θ↔КОЯΝ_104372]

There most likely is life, but life we can't yet detect.

The possibilities are infinite.

Exactly. Our solar system is inside a galaxy with other sets of solar systems. And our galaxy is among the millions, if not billions, of other galaxies in the universe..

Good Luck.

 

[T V]

There most likely is life, but life we can't yet detect.

The possibilities are infinite.

It's probably on a microscopic scale. I don't think it will ever develop to something as advanced as a human being, or even something close it, given that Saturn is a gas planet extremely incapable of sustaining something as complex as what we have here on Earth.

 

[Swan]

Life on Saturn surely can be "facilitated" if there's water, but i agree that it won't be as stable as Earth.

The deadly radiation in Saturn's magnetosphere would kill any potential life, most likely, even provided the conditions WERE right.

The only other estimated place for life in this solar system is on one of Jupiter's icy moons. The ice is thick enough to protect any life from the radiation, and it's estimated that there is underground reserves / oceans there. At least, I believe it was Jupiter. It's been a long time since I read it.

 

[Lym]

The deadly radiation in Saturn's magnetosphere would kill any potential life, most likely, even provided the conditions WERE right.

The only other estimated place for life in this solar system is on one of Jupiter's icy moons. The ice is thick enough to protect any life from the radiation, and it's estimated that there is underground reserves / oceans there. At least, I believe it was Jupiter. It's been a long time since I read it.

How do you know there isn't life that can live through the radiation?

 

[Tckr]

Very cool.

 

[xOneDown]

How do you know there isn't life that can live through the radiation?

Exactly. People seem to think that ALL life is held to the same standards as life on Earth. For all we know, there is life somewhere that doesn't breathe. The possibilities are infinite (because space is), so theoretically there are no set "conditions" which are required to sustain life.

 

[tofuhamster]

Hey...do you guys think that somewhere out there, there's some alien life form out there wondering if they are the only ones in the universe?

 

[Swan]

How do you know there isn't life that can live through the radiation?

Exactly. People seem to think that ALL life is held to the same standards as life on Earth. For all we know, there is life somewhere that doesn't breathe. The possibilities are infinite (because space is), so theoretically there are no set "conditions" which are required to sustain life.

You do realise what dangerous ionising radiation DOES to things, right? I suppose I can't expect everyone to understand rudimentary nuclear physics.

Consider a strong beta particle emitter. beta particles may be either negative (thus firing electrons) or positive (thus firing positrons / antimatter). It's difficult to explain the implications of ionising radiation to someone who doesn't study it, but basically it's true to its name: it ionises. These particles may be sufficiently energetic when they bombard atoms (such as in the magnetosphere mentioned) to detach electrons, thus ionising the atoms. This then breaks up structures of things such as DNA, and can cause either cell-death, mutations, or cancerous growths to list some of the possible outcomes.

Life itself requires carbon's ability to covalently bond with itself as well as other elements; a property which is UNIQUE to carbon. It can't happen with any other element. If you submit such organic molecules to strong ionising radiation, what do you think will happen?

Edit: Just as a mention to this:

It's probably on a microscopic scale. I don't think it will ever develop to something as advanced as a human being, or even something close it, given that Saturn is a gas planet extremely incapable of sustaining something as complex as what we have here on Earth.

Anything that microscopic most likely wouldn't be able to develop. There'd be too much disruption and thus it would not be able to develop a strong enough physical structure to protect itself from aforementioned radiation, as well as other toxic compounds that may be found. Even provided that something could live there, that claim is baseless.

And yes, I did edit this paragraph. I was being too overt perhaps, and given it's too hard to predict how much radiation is at any one point, I should not say definite.

 

[ytrewq]

Source - http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/188094/20110727/moon-rain-water-saturn-enceladus.htm

NASA handout photo showing water and ice fissures on Saturn's
moon Enceladus.



All i can think of is, where there's water, there's life ......

Did a future cities project in 8th grade, "designed" a space station on Enceladus.

All sorts of crazy undiscovered things going on in the universe.