Squirting moons spur search for life

• Autores: Lisa Grossman
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2964, 2014, pág. 12
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • In December, astronomers announced hints of watery plumes spurting from Jupiter's large moon Europa, potentially giving a peek into a vast ocean likely to exist beneath its ice. Saturn's moon Enceladus stole back the limelight last week, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reported firm evidence of an ocean linked to geysers at its south pole. NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew through the geysers and detected water, salts and carbon-based molecules. These are encouraging signs for habitability, but it was unclear whether the geysers were erupting from an ocean or from water pockets that wouldn't last long enough for life to get a toehold. Cassini scientist Luriano Iess at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, and colleagues have now mapped Enceladus's gravity and shown that it has a crescent shaped ocean, holding about as much water as Lake Superior in North America.