The mainstream media caught the story of apparent seas made of methane or ethane on Saturn’s largest moon Titan. But there was an even more interesting account about tiny Enceladus.
From the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (hat tip: Saturn Today):
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A hot start billions of years ago might have set into motion the forces that power geysers on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
“Deep inside Enceladus, our model indicates we’ve got an organic brew, a heat source and liquid water, all key ingredients for life,” said Dr. Dennis Matson, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “And while no one is claiming that we have found life by any means, we probably have evidence for a place that might be hospitable to life.”…
“Enceladus is a very small body, and it’s made almost entirely of ice and rock. The puzzle is how the moon developed a warm core,” said Dr. Julie Castillo, the lead scientist developing the new model at JPL. “The only way to achieve such high temperatures at Enceladus is through the very rapid decay of some radioactive species.”
5 thoughts on “Life on Saturn’s moon?”
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People seem uninformed on the process of nucleogenesis and its consequences.
All this is astrophysics and cosmology, not exactly my professional specialty, but the issue has economic impact here on earth.
After the big bang, most matter was in the form of electrons and protons which combined into hydrogen in equal parts. That hydrogen got condensed into stars. The bigger the star the more likely that it would “cookoff” into an exploding supernova someday. When a star when supernova, some of the energy then into making elements heavier than iron (like uranium and thorium) that in turn got blasted out into the galaxy. (See McPhee’s “Curve of the Binding Curve.”)
When a planetary system formed, some of the supernova ash condensed into solid planet. Our earth has lots of silicon, iron, and the like and a good dose of uranium and thorium. The latter are what cause earthquakes, tectonic plates, and volcanoes. The Earth emits 4% more energy into space than it receives in sunlight, the balance from radioactive decay. That heavy ash allows us to make electricity via nuclear power plants.
In essence, most planets are little dimly glowing embers of supernova ash.
The questions for Enceladus are then, 1) did heavy readioactive elements fractionate out in its core preferentially and 2) if so, how would one explain the lifecycle of the planet using as-found conditions? (ie it would have been much hotter earlier and so might have cooked off the water before now.)
Sorry for the digression but I’m working on a story about the place of uranium in the universe.
People seem uninformed on the process of nucleogenesis and its consequences.
no kidding.
No kidding?
Are you kidding us Joe?
Any distraction at a time like this is so welcome.
Indeed, “Pompous” is my middle name!
I just thought it so cool that there was a link, albeit weak, between a moon of Saturn and my favorite subject, nuclear power plants.
Just had to share!
I’d rather consider the moon absorbing kinetic energy or magnetic induction than isotope decay.
Then again, maybe the Enceladians are stealing our corn to use as fuel, thereby driving our cost of living up.
Let’s hope that if there is life there, it is intelligent life.
Because there is no inteligent life on Earth…