Saturns

Six essential elements are needed by all life on Earth - carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulphur. Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus has a full set. Scientists have made “first finding of phosphorus on an extraterrestrial ocean world” in the Saturn moon. Phosphates, a key building block of life, were discovered in particles ejected from Enceladus’ ice-covered global ocean from data sent back by NASA's Cassini space mission. The moon has an ice surface and an ice shell covering the ocean inside.…

Astronomers say that traces of phosphorus have been detected in the salty ice grains found on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Late last month, astronomers reported that a massive plume seen jutting from Enceladus could be key in the search for life beyond Earth. Now that we’ve discovered this key building block of life on the moon, though, that outcome seems even more likely. According to the new reports, the chemical was found in the grains of salty ice that were recently released into space by the plumes I…

Scientists studying data from the Cassini spacecraft, a probe sent by the US space agency NASA, have made an important discovery on one of Saturn's icy moons. They have found high concentrations of phosphorus, which is crucial for all living processes on Earth.This phosphorus was detected in ice crystals below the surface of Enceladus, Saturn's moon that has an ocean beneath its icy exterior. Finding phosphorus is a significant breakthrough for the possibility of alien life on this moon. Researchers had already found six…

SwRI Lead Scientist Dr. Christopher Glein was part of a team that found phosphorus, a key building block for life, from the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s small moon, Enceladus. Liquid water erupts from the moon’s subsurface ocean, forming a plume that contains grains of frozen ocean water. Some of these ice grains go on to form Saturn’s E ring. The team analyzed Cassini spacecraft data from ice grains in the E ring, which revealed fingerprints of soluble phosphate salts from Enceladus’ ocean. Credit: Cassini Imaging…

Scientists have found traces of phosphorus, a fundamental ingredient for life, in ice grains spewed into space by Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons.NASA Delays Return to Earth's Evil Twin, VenusEnceladus is a tiny (310-mile-wide, or 500-kilometer-wide) moon orbiting Saturn, the great ringed gas giant of our solar system. It’s less wide than the United Kingdom, but Enceladus is of outsizedinterest to astrobiologists because of its subsurface ocean, which lies beneath its icy crust.Now researchers have found signs of a rare…

Saturn’s moon Enceladus has phosphorous. The finding came from recently analyzed icy particles emitted from the natural satellite’s ocean plumes, detected by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The discovery means Enceladus has all the chemical building blocks for life as we know it on Earth. “This is the final one saying, ‘Yes, Enceladus does have all of the ingredients that typical Earth life would need to live and that the ocean there is habitable for life as we know it,” Morgan Cable, astrobiology chemist at NASA’s Jet…

…

A massive plume spurting water out of Enceladus has scientists thinking twice about just how likely they are to find evidence of alien life on the small moon. Enceladus orbits Saturn, making it one of many moons that the planet sports. Astronomers have had their eyes on the moon for a good while now, but a recent development has led them to look closer. That development comes in the form of a massive plume that is currently jetting out of Enceladus. It’s releasing roughly 79 gallons of water into space every…

Since the Cassini spacecraft discovered plumes of water vapor erupting from geysers on Enceladus nearly 20 years ago, Saturn's ice-covered ocean moon has been a hot topic.The James Webb Space Telescope has now caught sight of the largest plume yet. The telescope's astonishingly sensitive eye measured an eruption of water vapor punching at least 10,000 kilometers (over 6,000 miles) out into space. That's around 20 times the size of Enceladus itself, and it has given scientists an unprecedented glimpse at how the moon's…

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has provided us with numerous stunning images despite its short duration of service. The space telescope has delivered amazing snaps of the early universe since its launch in December 2021 and now, it has added another feather to its cap. The Webb Telescope has captured water vapour plume jetting from Enceladus, one of Saturn's 124 moons. Not only is this the first time that such a large emission has been observed over such a large distance, it also gives scientists a direct look at how…