A Study Has Found New Organic Molecules on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus. Scientists Say That Increases the Chance It’s Habitable

The icy crust at the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, composed as a mosaic from images captured in 2009 by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, with geysers spraying plumes of ice crystals into space from the moon’s inner ocean. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Handout via Reuters

Scientists have uncovered new types of organics in icy geysers spouting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, bolstering the likelihood that the ocean world may harbor conditions suitable for life.

Their findings, reported Wednesday, are based on observations made by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in 2008 during a close and fast flyby of Enceladus. The small moon, one of 274 orbiting Saturn, has long been considered a prime candidate in the search for life beyond Earth because of its hidden ocean and plumes of water erupting from cracks near its south pole.

While Enceladus may be habitable, no one is suggesting that life exists.

“Being habitable and being inhabited are two very different things. We believe that Enceladus is habitable, but we do not know if life is indeed present,” said the University of Washington’s Fabian Klenner, who took part in the study.

An international team decided to launch a fresh analysis of tiny grains of ice encountered as Cassini flew through the moon’s geysers. The grains were young compared with the much older geyser particles that ended up in one of Saturn’s outermost rings.

These new grains collided with Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer at 40,000 mph (64,800 kph), faster than the old ones. The increased speed provided a clearer view of the chemical compounds present, the scientists noted.

(Source: pbs.org)