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Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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The Enigma of Enceladus
March 27, 2008 4:47 PM
In 2005, NASA's Cassini probe, orbiting Saturn, made a remarkable and tantalizing discovery: Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, was venting something -- possibly liquid water -- into the frozen space around it.
Enceladus. Even the name, coming from Greek mythology, rolls off the tongue mysteriously. En-CELL-a-dus.
Now, as we've reported, Cassini has added to the mystery. Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent the ship racing through the plume of Enceladus' geysers, and found them rich in organic compounds. They were also warmer than scientists had expected.
"Could microbial life exist inside Enceladus, where no sunlight reaches, photosynthesis is impossible and no oxygen is available?" ask Chris McKay and Dennis Matson in an essay on the Cassini site. "To answer that question, we need look no farther than our own planet to find examples of the types of exotic ecosystems that could make life possible on Saturn's geyser moon. The answer appears to be, yes, it could be possible."
They continue, "In recent years, life forms have been found on Earth that thrive in places where the sun doesn't shine and oxygen is not present because no photosynthesis takes place. Microbes have been discovered that survive on the energy from the chemical interaction between different kinds of minerals, and others that live off the energy from the radioactive decay in rocks. The ecosystems are completely independent of oxygen or organic material produced by photosynthesis at Earth's surface. These extraordinary microbial ecosystems are models for life that might be present inside Enceladus today." The full essay is HERE.
Of course, a reality check is in order. They did find water vapor, methane, carbon monoxide, a whole brew of organic molecules -- but the Saturn system (see our slide show HERE) is far out in the solar system, and there may be many things going on that we cannot see. They're the ingredients for life. That doesn't necessarily mean anything there actually is alive.
Mckay and Matson: "the evidence points to the feasibility of life in Enceladus. But how would it get its start? A major problem in answering that question is that we don't know how life originated on Earth, nor have we been able to reproduce Earth's first spark of life in the laboratory. But here's the good news: there are a lot of theories for how life originated on Earth. Now the question is -- do they apply to Enceladus?"
Those are questions we cannot answer for now. But they certainly send minds racing.
(False-color image of venting near Enceladus' south pole, imaged by Cassini spacecraft.)
March 27, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (13)
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I ally hope that. However, it seems that many religious people go to great effort to explane science away. They need to open their eyes and marvel at the beauty of space. If they turn out to be right and god, or the aliens come to earth and claim (and explain why and how) he/they created the universe I would be more amazed than the claim that god created men. Oooh big deal. The real wonders lay in space and its greatness, not in the men from tiny earth who with al their religon cant even get along and make a peaceful world.
science and education will set us free.
Posted by: Morgoth | Mar 27, 2008 6:11:14 PM
Hello Ned,
I have three questions for you if you would not mind answering! I know that Encelaudus is a rather small and very exciting moon at a mere 300 miles in diameter. When will the Cassini space probe make it's closest encounter to a near swoop of that tiny moons surface?
Also what distance would be the closes that Cassini probe can approach huge Saturn at 75,000 miles diameter to not endangering it to be sucked in by the Saturn's enormous gravity?
Also, how come there are no images of our sun at approximately 850,000,000 miles distance, the sun would appear much smaller and dimmer and images should not be a problem I would think.
Thank you,
Tom
Posted by: Tom Carnesi | Mar 27, 2008 6:14:28 PM
OK, this could be interesting!
Posted by: dgfiit | Mar 27, 2008 6:17:51 PM
This is indeed very exciting, too bad we won't be able to find out more... we've got a 'war on terra' to pay for. We're lucky the Mars rovers weren't put to sleep, just to save a lousy 4 million bucks.
Posted by: Buck | Mar 27, 2008 7:12:37 PM
Since we realy have no idea how easy it is for life to get started even with (barely) the necessary ingredients, I'm not getting my hopes up on this one. The Earth had a billion years and an entire planet full of oceans receiving direct sunlight (and probably very active volcanic vents). That makes it more probable than a little geyser in the middle of frozen space. But you never know!
Posted by: jock59801 | Mar 27, 2008 7:15:52 PM
This is a really exciting discovery. I guess we will have to wait and see what the full analysis brings. If amines are present then perhaps all the precursors for life are there. Can chemistry at those temperatures allow the synthesis of sugars? I don't know but if they can then life is probably quite common in the universe.
Posted by: Andy Clark | Mar 27, 2008 7:16:40 PM
Is this another attempt to get more funding?
Posted by: PQQAm | Mar 27, 2008 7:51:01 PM
Don't tell Bush there's oil up there on Encelaudus. Christ, He and Cheney will start another war and anything living will be terminated.
Posted by: michaelbasham | Mar 27, 2008 7:56:46 PM
I think is a fascinating find. Exciting!
Posted by: Ron | Mar 27, 2008 8:49:35 PM
Here we go again. They found organic molecules there on Enceladus. Now, can't we all just be patient for a couple billion years and see what happens? Then, once and for all, we'll have the answer. Patience will allay a whole lot of questions and arguments and a really big pot of speculation. Come on, folks, just wait and watch it unfold.
Posted by: Andy | Mar 27, 2008 9:22:56 PM
It would also be interesting to see what effect all the radiation from Jupiter has on those molecules over time. I wonder if it's predictable to any extent.
Posted by: Andy | Mar 29, 2008 11:05:44 AM
I hope when Obama wins he will redirect some of the vast wealth being devoted to the space program to something that will improve the lives of people on earth. Like clean water, sanitation and food for the third world. Or maybe a cure for malaria. How about fixing the AIDS problem in Africa. How about making sure children in our own country are not going to bed hungry?
Posted by: Dave | Apr 10, 2008 11:48:02 AM
Dave: I totally agree. The first thing that Obama should do is remove the totally useless weather, navigation, communication and earth sensing satellites.
These devices obviously provide nothing to the people on earth.
/end sarcasm
Posted by: Les J | Apr 16, 2008 1:03:16 PM
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