NASA Scientists have confirmed that Enceladus, the icy moon of Saturn, has a subsurface ocean that spans the entire globe. The discovery is on the heels of finding evidence of hydrothermal vents on Enceladus back in March.
The Mystery of Enceladus
Scientists with NASA’s Cassini mission have been studying data imagery of the tiny moon Enceladus for the past seven years. Cassini is a spacecraft that first arrived at Saturn in 2004 and has been orbiting the planet ever since. Cassini first saw water vapor coming from the moon’s South Pole in 2005. In 2014, Scientists announced evidence of a regional sea on Enceladus. A few months ago, Cassini detected hydrothermal vents, indicating that the moon’s water is heated and has minerals, the basic foundation for spawning life.
The Discovery of Enceladus’ Subsurface Ocean
Further investigation mapped out the positions of features on Enceladus in order to measure changes in the moon’s rotation with extreme precision. Scientist found that the moon has a measurable wobble as it orbits Saturn. Because Enceladus is imperfectly shaped and speeds up and slows down at different portions during its orbit, Saturn subtly rocks its tiny moon back and forth during rotation.
To analyze the interior makeup of Enceladus, scientists input the measurement of the wobble into different models. “If the surface and core were rigidly connected, the core would provide so much dead weight the wobble would be far smaller than we observe it to be,” said Matthew Tiscareno, a Cassini participating scientist at SETI Institute, Mountain View, California, and a co-author of the paper. “This proves that there must be a global layer of liquid separating the surface from the core.”
Enceladus Has The Basic Ingredients for Extra-Terrestrial Life
“This is a major step beyond what we understood about this moon before, and demonstrates the kind of deep-dive discoveries we can make with long-lived orbiter missions to other planets, “ said co-author Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team lead at Space Science Institute, Boulder. “Cassini has been exemplary in this regard.”
The discovery of the subsurface ocean on Enceladus proves that more work is to be done here. Scientists are still investigating the circumstances that prevented the subsurface ocean from freezing. The presence of hydrothermal vents puts Enceladus as a frontrunner for the existence of extra-terrestrial life. Cassini is set to make a close flyby of the Enceladus on October 28.
