Giant explosion on Saturn’s moon: water flew hundreds of kilometers into space

The Webb Space Telescope has captured new images of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. Huge streams of water vapor flying hundreds of kilometers into space entered the frame. In these streams, it’s possible to detect chemical compounds that contribute to the emergence and evolution of life forms, Live Science writes.

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According to scientists from NASA, the eruptions seen on Enceladus are really huge and very impressive. Although scientists had observed these water vapor streams before, the higher sensitivity of Webb telescope instruments made it possible to obtain much more useful data about them. In particular, it turned out that streams of water vapor fly much farther than scientists thought. As the observation shows, this distance is several times greater than the diameter of Enceladus, which is about 504 km.

Astronomers first learned that Enceladus exploded through large cracks in its icy crust in 2005, thanks to observations by the Cassini spacecraft. Now scientists believe that particles flying from Enceladus reached Saturn and formed one of the planet’s rings.

The composition of the streams flying into space includes methane, carbon dioxide and ammonia in addition to water vapor, as preliminary studies have shown. These chemical compounds are essential for the development of life. Scientists even suggest that some of these compounds were created by living microorganisms living under the icy crust of Enceladus.

As observations show, there may indeed be a large ocean of liquid water in the bowels of Saturn’s moon. And it means that where there is water, microorganisms can exist. Scientists believe that water flowed to the surface of Enceladus from hydrothermal vents located at the bottom of its ocean. Their existence is indicated by a lot of data and for that matter Focus already written in detail.

NASA plans to send research missions here to finally get answers to many intriguing questions, particularly what the powerful eruptions are made of and whether there is an ocean and life on Enceladus.

In particular, the issue of sending the Enceladus Orbilander spacecraft to Enceladus is discussed. First, it will need to orbit Saturn’s moon for six months, collecting samples of particles floating in the streams gushing out into space. After that, the device will need to land on the surface of Enceladus and analyze the environment.

Previously Focus He wrote in detail that, according to scientists, it is possible to detect life on Enceladus even without exploring its interior.

Also, as I’ve already written, NASA has created a prototype robot on Enceladus to explore the ocean and look for signs of extraterrestrial life. Focus.