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Tidal forces explain how an icy moon of Saturn keeps its ‘tiger stripes’

By Guest PostMay 9, 2016Scienceedwin kite, enceladus, icy moon, saturn, tidal forces, tiger stripes

The persistence of the massive, explosive fissures on the surface of Saturn’s sixth-largest moon, Enceladus — despite the moon’s astoundingly frigid surface — have remained a mystery for 11 years. Researchers from Princeton University and the University of Chicago show, however, that the fissures could be kept active by the sloshing of water in the vast ocean that scientists suppose is beneath the moon’s thick ice shell. The findings could help provide a clear objective for future satellite missions to Enceladus, which scientists suspect could host life. (more…)

Book explains astrobiology for a general audience

By Guest PostJanuary 13, 2014Scienceacid, acknowledge the wonder, alkaline, astrobiology, d h lawrence, david catling, enceladus, europa, extraterrestrial microbes, geology, icy particles, mars, moon of jupiter, moon of saturn, origin of life, oxford university press, ph, planetary science, plume, political realms, seafloor, solar system, southwest native americans, united states

In the late 1990s, the University of Washington created what was arguably the world’s first graduate program in astrobiology, aimed at preparing scientists to hunt for life away from Earth. In 2001, David Catling became one of the first people brought to the UW specifically to teach astrobiology.

Catling, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences, is the author of Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction, the 370^th offering in the Oxford University Press series of “very short introduction” books by experts in various fields. Catling was commissioned by editors to write the book, which was published in the United States on Jan. 1. Following are his answers to some questions about the book and astrobiology. (more…)

Cassini Sees Saturn and Moons in Holiday Dress

By Guest PostDecember 25, 2013Scienceboulder, carolyn porco, cassini, enceladus, habitable zone, holiday season, linda spilker, liquid water reservoir, moons, most fascinating moons, NASA, planetary system, saturn, saturn pole, solar system, space science institute, titan

This holiday season, feast your eyes on images of Saturn and two of its most fascinating moons, Titan and Enceladus, in a care package from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. All three bodies are dressed and dazzling in this special package assembled by Cassini’s imaging team.

The new images are available online at: https://www.nasa.gov/cassini , https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and https://ciclops.org .

“During this, our tenth holiday season at Saturn, we hope that these images from Cassini remind everyone the world over of the significance of our discoveries in exploring such a remote and beautiful planetary system,” said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader, based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. “Happy holidays from all of us on Cassini.” (more…)

How Did Earth’s Primitive Chemistry Get Kick Started?

By Guest PostAugust 2, 2013Scienceacetate, alkaline hydrothermal fluids, alkaline hydrothermal vents, ancient enzymes, atlantic ocean, bottom of oceans, chemical signature, distribution, earliest oceans, earth, enceladus, evolution, floor, future of life, hypothesis, icy worlds, jupiter, lauren white, laws of thermodynamics, mike russell, moon europa, nano engines, NASA, organic carbon, origin, polymers, primitive chemistry, saturn

How did life on Earth get started? Three new papers co-authored by Mike Russell, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., strengthen the case that Earth’s first life began at alkaline hydrothermal vents at the bottom of oceans. Scientists are interested in understanding early life on Earth because if we ever hope to find life on other worlds — especially icy worlds with subsurface oceans such as Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus — we need to know what chemical signatures to look for.

Two papers published recently in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B provide more detail on the chemical and precursor metabolic reactions that have to take place to pave the pathway for life. Russell and his co-authors describe how the interactions between the earliest oceans and alkaline hydrothermal fluids likely produced acetate (comparable to vinegar). The acetate is a product of methane and hydrogen from the alkaline hydrothermal vents and carbon dioxide dissolved in the surrounding ocean. Once this early chemical pathway was forged, acetate could become the basis of other biological molecules. They also describe how two kinds of “nano-engines” that create organic carbon and polymers — energy currency of the first cells — could have been assembled from inorganic minerals. (more…)

Water Geysers on Saturn’s Moon

By Guest PostAugust 1, 2013Sciencecassini spacecraft, christophe sotin, cornell university, data, enceladus, enceladus plume, galileo, gravity, hydrocarbon composition, icy surface, instrument, ithaca, jet propulsion laboratory, linda spilker, matt hedman, moon, moon of saturn, NASA, organic material, robert brown, saturn, saturn gravity, saturnian moon, seismological signs, tiger stripes, titan, university of arizona, vims, water geysers

A new study published in Nature this week describes the forces that control the jets of water and organic material that erupt from the icy surface of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. UA scientists contributed data to the study.

The intensity of the jets of water ice and organic molecules that shoot out from Saturn’s moon Enceladus depends on the moon’s proximity to the planet, according to data obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The finding, detailed in the journal Nature this week, is the first clear observation that shows the Enceladus plume varies in a predictable manner. (more…)

Strongest Evidence yet indicates Icy Saturn Moon hiding Saltwater Ocean

By Guest PostJune 24, 2011Science12 science instruments, cassini spacecraft, cassini-huygens mission to saturn, collaboration of nasa, enceladus, european space agency, frank postberg, icy spray shooting, mission spacecraft, ocean-like, plumes shooting water vapor, salt-rich, saturn system, saturn's moon enceladus, squeezed out, subterranean saltwater ocean, surface of saturn's largest moon, the strongest evidence yet for the existence of a large-scale, tiger stripe, tiny grains of ice, university of colorado boulder, university of germany, university of heidelberg, university of potsdam, vapor clouds

Samples of icy spray shooting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus collected during Cassini spacecraft flybys show the strongest evidence yet for the existence of a large-scale, subterranean saltwater ocean, says a new international study led by the University of Heidelberg and involving the University of Colorado Boulder.

The new discovery was made during the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, a collaboration of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Launched in 1997, the mission spacecraft arrived at the Saturn system in 2004 and has been touring the giant ringed planet and its vast moon system ever since. (more…)

Cassini Spots Potential Ice Volcano on Saturn Moon

By Guest PostDecember 15, 20101 commentScience3 d map, cassini, cassini huygens mission, cassini radar images, cassini spacecraft, cryovolcanoes, earth, enceladus, erupts, flagstaff, ice, ice volcanoes, Iceland, italy, jeffrey kargel, laki, molten rock, moon, mt etna, NASA, randolph kirk, saturn, solar system, sotra facula, subterranean geological activity, titan, topography, volcanic topography

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has found possible ice volcanoes on Saturn’s moon Titan that are similar in shape to those on Earth that spew molten rock.

Topography and surface composition data have enabled scientists to make the best case yet in the outer solar system for an Earth-like volcano landform that erupts in ice. The results were presented on December 14 at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. (more…)

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