Scientists have discovered a warm ocean on Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons.
The ocean, discovered by NASA’s Cassini mission, could potentially led to breakthroughs about the icy moon.
It has been long speculated that a large ocean existed beneath Enceladus’ frozen surface, but only now has it been confirmed that there exists a subterranean ocean covering the entirety of Enceladus’ surface under a frozen icy exterior, reported The Verge.
The Cassini spacecraft, first launched in 1997, has orbited Saturn since 2004. Through observing the wobble of the Enceladus’ orbit relative to Saturn, Cornel University researchers have determined that the moon is not frozen to its core and that there exists a global ocean on Enceladus, according to NASA’s website.
“This is a major step beyond what we understood about this moon before, and it demonstrates the kind of deep-dive discoveries we can make with long-lived orbiter missions to other planets,” said Carolyn Porco, head of the Cassini imaging team at the Space Science Institute in Boulder. “Cassini has been exemplary in this regard.”
While Enceladus is not the only moon of Saturn to have a subterranean body of water (Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, contains seas and lakes beneath its surface), the presence of a warm global ocean has intriguing possibilities, as it could potentially be suitable for living organisms.
The Cassini spacecraft is set to make an extremely close flyby around Enceladus on Oct. 28th, flying just 30 miles above the surface and passing through the moon’s plume of icy material.
Screenshot courtesy of IGN News' YouTube video