• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Scientists Use Cassini Data To Analyze Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Compounds, Detect Methane In Plumes

July 28, 2021 by David Barret Leave a Comment

Scientists have detected methane in plumes on Enceladus. Enceladus is an icy moon. It is one of the 82 moons of planet Saturn which is the fifth from the Sun in ascending order. They claimed to observe an unknown process on the moon that produces methane. The activity was reported beneath the icy shell. Scientists, however, could not explain the levels of methane. They said that known geochemical processes can’t tell about methane levels that the Cassini spacecraft measured on Enceladus. The study assumes significance as it indicates that life can exist in the liquid methane. Past studies have speculated that life can exist in the liquid methane. But the only presence of methane does not necessarily mean that the place is habitable.

The icy moon has been a topic for research and study for scientists due to the giant water plumes that erupt on it. Scientists believe that the vast ocean on Enceladus is sandwiched between its rocky core and icy shell. The Cassini spacecraft had flown through its plumes. It even sampled the chemical compounds. The spacecraft observed a high concentration of some specific molecules. These molecules were similar to hydrothermal vents of oceans on Earth. It detected methane in the plumes. The amount of methane was relatively high and very surprising. Researchers said that searching for microbes on the moon is a challenging task. It needs deep-dive missions. Such missions are not possible on Enceladus or any other object at least in the near future.

Scientists said that they combined new mathematical models with geochemistry to analyze methane in plumes of Enceladus. They observed microbial hydrothermal vent activity. They said that the process may not involve life and differs from what happens on Earth. The Cassini spacecraft had in 2015 detected blasting water ice particles from the south pole of Enceladus. It is believed that Saturn’s second-outermost ring materials come from an ocean of liquid water. That water flows beneath the icy shell of Enceladus. The spacecraft made numerous close flybys of Enceladus. It also detected many other compounds like dihydrogen and organic compounds with carbon. Cassini was launched by NASA in 1997. It entered into Saturn’s orbit in 2004. It circled the planet for 13 years. The mission ended in 2017 with Cassini burning up into Saturn’s atmosphere.

David Barret
David Barret

Related posts:

  1. Earth’s Oxygen Rich Atmosphere Has Life Span Of Another 1 Billion Years: Study
  2. Second ISS-Bound Commercial Crew Rotation Mission Launched With 4 Astronauts
  3. NASA To Send Mobile Robot To Moon To Explore South Pole As Part Of Artemis Program In 2023
  4. NASA Study Finds Covid-Induced Lockdowns Cut Nitrogen Oxides Emissions, Ozone by 15 Percent

Filed Under: Science

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Experimental Nanoparticle “Super-Vaccines” Stop Breast, Pancreatic, And Skin Cancers In Their Tracks
  • New Nightmare Fuel Unlocked: Watch The First Known Capture Of A Shrew By A False Widow Spider
  • Peculiar Glow In The Milky Way Might Be Dark Matter Signature
  • “I Was Scared To Death”: Missouri’s Great Cobra Scare Of 1953 Was Eventually Solved After 35 Years
  • Two Spacecraft To Fly Through Comet 3I/ATLAS’s Ion Tail – Will They Be Able To Catch Something?
  • Pioneering Heavy Water Detection Suggests Earth’s Water Might Be Older Than The Sun
  • PhD Students’ Groundbreaking New Technique Rescues JWST’s Highest Resolution Data
  • Popcorn-Like Parasites And Weird Worms Among 14 New Species Discovered In The World’s Oceans
  • Poem From 1181 CE Cairo Appears To Reference A Rare Galactic Supernova
  • With “Iridescent Live Colors”, Newly Discovered Beautiful Dwarfgoby Lives Up To Its Name (Mostly)
  • “Anti-Tail” And Odd 594-Kilometer Feature Found On Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS By Keck Observatory
  • Why Do We Call It A “Hamburger” When It Doesn’t Contain Ham?
  • What Aristotle Got Wrong About The Octopus
  • The World’s Largest Island Is Shrinking And Shifting
  • Record-Breaking Marshmallow Planet – It’s A Cold, Peculiar World On A Very Slanted Orbit
  • Distinctive Rocks Might Be Remnants Of Earth Before The Collision That Made The Moon
  • Bright Northern Lights Across America Expected This Week As 3 Coronal Mass Ejections Fly Towards Earth
  • Brain Implant Enables Paralyzed Man To Feel And Use Objects Using Someone Else’s Hands
  • “This Is A Really Big Deal”: Brain Training Significantly Improves Key Neurochemical Levels In World First
  • “Wholly Unexpected”: First-Ever Fossil Paranthropus Hand Raises Questions About Earliest Tool Makers’ Identity
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version