Saturn Moon Spewing Hope — Ice-Vapor Geysers Hint Liquid Water – and Life

By Alicia Chang Associated Press / Mark Watson contributed

LOS ANGELES – A few interplanetary close-ups, and an icy, tiny, shiny moon of Saturn has gone from solar system wallflower to one of the most promising places to look for liquid water – and maybe life – beyond Earth.

The orbiting Cassini spacecraft has found a frigid, massive Yellowstone on the moon Enceladus, with miles-high geysers spewing ice particles and water vapor. The surprising images released Thursday do not show any liquid water, but scientists believe it is hidden in underground reservoirs close to the surface.

The discovery has prompted some scientists like Cynthia Phillips of the SETI Institute to call for further study of Enceladus as a potential place in the solar system that could support extraterrestrial life.

“Liquid water is one of the most essential elements that you need for life” said Phillips, who had no role in the discovery. “All of life as we know it depends on liquid water.”

Torrence Johnson, a Cassini scientist from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, said the Enceladus findings mark the first time scientists have seen evidence of water in liquid form so close to the surface on another body beyond Earth.

The findings were published in today’s issue of the journal Science.

Scientists believe Mars and Jupiter’s icy moons might have – or once might have had – conditions hospitable to life. But the evidence of water is indirect: Studying Martian rocks has led them to believe water once flowed on that planet, and magnetic readings of Jupiter’s moon Europa strongly suggest its icy surface is hiding an ocean of water.

Enceladus could have both liquid water and a stable heat source, two of the several ingredients that scientists generally agree are needed for life.

The geysers are believed to spring from underground reservoirs of liquid water under high pressure. Cassini imaging scientist Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute said the venting has probably been going on for at least several thousand years, perhaps indicating a lasting heat source underground.

If Enceladus does harbor life, it probably consists of microbes or other primitive organisms capable of living in extreme conditions, scientists say.

——————–

Greater Memphis Reacts

Memphis Astronomical Society treasurer Bill Wilson said this discovery might prompt NASA to explore the moon more closely:

“This is one of the things scientists get very excited about. … I don’t know how much they can do with Cassini, but the mission to Pluto that was launched in January won’t get there until 2015.”

Dr. P. Clay Sherrod , Arkansas Sky Observatories coordinator, said the discovery of water isn’t surprising:

“If the water was in amounts large enough, it absolutely would warrant our investigations into this world, more so than we have already explored. “

– Mark Watson

——————–