Watery Ocean Salty's on Saturn Moon

Samples were collected during the Cassini spacecraft passed near Saturn.


Scientists said the spacecraft of the United States and Europe managed to gather strong evidence that there is salt water ocean beneath the surface of Enceladus, Saturn's moon.

Samples from the burst of ice that gushed from the lunar surface was collected by a sensor Cosmic Dust Analyzer, when the Cassini spacecraft passed there. Cassini-Huygens is itself a joint mission between NASA, ESA and Italian Space Agency.

According to researchers, these bursts arise from the cracks in the frozen surface of Enceladus, precisely in the area around the south pole.

"Currently there is no possible way to produce bursts of grains that are rich in salt from the solid ice in the region. Except for that of the salty ocean beneath the surface of Enceladus, "said Frank Postberg, researchers from the University of Germany, June 23, 2011.

Salt-rich particles also have a composition which indicates that it arises due to the evaporation of salty water, instead of that month's frozen surface.

Researchers believe that the possibility, 80 kilometers below the surface of Enceladus, there is a layer of water. The water layer is located between the frozen surface of the moon and the moon is a rocky core. The water was not frozen due to come awake by the force of gravity from the planet Saturn and other moons around Enceladus.

"Enceladus is a small icy moon is located in the vast solar system where liquid water is estimated to be present by the distance from the Sun," said Nicolas Altobelli, scientists from ESA.

These findings, Altobelli said, is a very important finding and is evidence that certain environmental conditions could allow the existence of life on the frozen planet orbiting a giant gas planet.

Source vivanews.com