Organic Molecules in Enceladus

     Data from earlier Cassini mission spacecraft has found complex organic molecules coming out of Saturn's Icy moon Enceladus. It strengthens the idea of existence of water and hosts good condition for life.

Scientists revealed that complex organic material get mixed with hot hydro-thermal water and released into space in the form of water vapor and ice grains. These results were discovered by a team led by Frank Postberg and Nozair Khawaja from the University of Heidelberg.

On Enceladus, bubbles of gas, rising through miles of ocean, could bring up organic material from depths, where they could form a thin film floating on the ocean surface and in cracks of vents, in the interior of the moon, beneath its icy shell.

After rising near the top of the ocean, the bubbles may burst or otherwise disperse the organics, where they were detected by Cassini.

Continuing studies of Cassini data will help us unravel the mysteries of this intriguing ocean world,” said Cassini Project Scientist Linda Spilker of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

References:

[1] Gretchen McCartney, Dwayne Brown, JoAnna Wendel, Markus Bauer (27 June 2018) " Complex Organics Bubble up from Ocean-world Enceladus" NASA Website. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/complex-organics-bubble-up-from-ocean-world-enceladus on 02-06-2018.

Credits:

Information Source: NASA

Image : NASA