Liquid Found On Saturn
The liquid found on Saturn’s satellite, Titan represents one of the most thrilling and challenging discoveries in a hundred years, since except for Earth, this is the second solar body with liquid on the surface in the system. NASA’s press release informed the public that the open lake structures consisted of liquid hydrocarbons like ethane. Cassini spacecraft was the probe to send hundreds of pictures of Saturn and its satellites in its forty close flybys in the area. According to theories there could be large open liquid surfaces of methane, ethane and various other hydrocarbons; the dark color of the liquid found on Saturn’s moon could only point to these components of crude oil. Even so, the liquid form was not 100% sure until a probe got on Titan in January 2005.
The size of these pools or lakes of liquid found on Saturn’s satellite could run as deep as some hundred feet. Cassini spacecraft used an infrared scanning technique to approximate the size of these formations. However, the main question remains as whether this planet would ever be suitable for life or not. Another Saturn moon, Enceladus, revealed cold water geysers issuing from liquid reservoirs lying a little below the frozen soil. Could such discoveries begin a new era in the planetary exploration programs? Though life remains difficult to imagine in the cold conditions of this cold world, right beneath the surface of Enceladus, all the discoveries indicate that life is more than possible.
Consequently the liquid found on Saturn’s Enceladus triggered a whole set of new investigations for life in the solar system. Plus, there is one other condition met for the development of life on Enceladus: organic materials, and they do abound in the form of hydrocarbs like ethane, methane and carbon dioxide. Last but not least, near the thermal vents, deep down in Saturn’s center, the temperature could also generate a favorable environment for the evolution of life forms.
The liquid found on Saturn’s moons represents the most exciting discovery in the last twenty five years, since the moment when volcanic activity was identified on one of Jupiter’s moons. Even if the real origin of the water geysers on Enceladus cannot be observed by means of the cameras on Cassini, there is no doubt about the water sprays and the ice visible in the polar region. The same warm-icy model in the structure of comets applies to this liquid found on Saturn’s satellite, Enceladus, since the geysers were identified as a combination of ice and hot water vapors. Then, there must be liquid water under the surface!
