The vicinity of Encelados contains complex organic particles, in an additional evidence that this Saturn's ice satellite includes favorable conditions for a life outside the planet, according to a study published by the results of "Nature Estronomi".
This small moon, invisible with the naked eye, is a white ball with only 500 km in diameter, and its surface appears to be scars, and rotates around Saturn, the sixth planets of the solar system.
Scientists have always believed that it was very far from the sun, and therefore very cold, which prevents it from being hidden forms of life.
However, the situation changed after the "Cassini" probe, which flew several times during his mission to Saturn and his episodes between 2004 and 2017, demonstrated the presence of a vast ocean of salty water under a thick layer of ice.
So, the data collected continued to provide new evidence about the presence of the necessary elements for the emergence of life: from salts to methane through carbon dioxide, phosphorous and others.
In its southern pole, Cassini discovered hot springs exploding from cracks and ejaculating in the air smaller ice molecules than sand granules.
Some of these ice granules fall back to the moon, while others leak into space to join a ring around Saturn.
- Return to Enselados -
While passing through the episode "E", which is the outer episode of Saturn's episodes, the "Cassini" probe monitored the samples of Esellados, according to the main preparatory prepared for the study, Nazir Khawaja, the scientist of the planets at the Free University of Berlin, in a statement issued by the European Space Agency.
Scientists have identified many organic molecules there, including amino acids, which are essential elements of life. But these particles may have been present in the episode for hundreds of years, and have changed by intense cosmic radiation.
In 2008, the "Cassini" probe passed directly across the ice column. Just a few minutes before that, the ice granules of the ice Ice collided with a mono dust analysis device at 18 km per second.
The researchers needed years for its in -depth chemical analysis, which is the subject of the new study.
"The molecules that we found in the newly ejected material prove that the complex organic molecules that Cassini monitored are not merely the product of long exposure to space, but rather are present in the vicinity of Ecsellados."
Astronomical Chemistry Chemistry, Caroline Fresnieh, who did not participate in the study, told AFP that confirming the presence of these molecules that "we had no serious doubts about", increases an "additional component" on the knowledge available in this field.
The researcher in the laboratory and space monitoring (Latmos) confirmed that this appears, above all, that "thanks to new technologies, such as automated learning and artificial intelligence, we are able to conduct new analyzes and interpretations of old data."
"There is still a lot that can be extracted from the missions that are no longer present today," she added.
To achieve "very accurate" particles, according to Fresyneh, "we have ideally we have to land where the heaters are located, in the Antarctic, and the collection of samples."
The European Space Agency has launched studies for such a project. The agency says that a task will take direct measurements on the surface of the moon, in search of signs of life, "Europe will give a leading position in exploring the solar system."
"Even if we do not find a life on Encelados, this will be a great discovery, because it will ask fundamental questions about the reason for the absence of life in an environment in which all circumstances appear appropriate," Khawaja said.
0 Comments