An analysis of cosmic dust found in orbit around Saturn points
to evidence that its icy moon Enceladus has hydrothermal
activity, which could harbour life.
The 500-kilometre diameter moon is covered with ice, but in 2005
the Cassini probe spotted plumes of ice and water vapour jetting
out of fractures at its south pole. The plumes were found to be
rich in sodium salt, meaning that liquid water has been in contact
with rock somewhere below the icy surface, and subsequent
gravitational measurements confirmed that there’s a
ten-kilometre-deep ocean hidden under 40 kilometres of ice.
By: Duncan Geere,
