A possible explanation of one of Saturn's moons having an underground ocean

Two researchers, one from the University of Maryland and the other from the Southwest Research Institute, have discovered a plausible explanation for the existence of the ocean beneath the surface of the ocean. 39, one of the moons of Saturn. In their article published in the newspaper Nature AstronomyMarc Neveu and Alyssa Rhoden describe the computer model they built to reproduce the conditions close to Saturn over time and what they showed.

Saturn has more than 60 moons, ranging from tiny globes of less than 300 meters through the giant Titan moon, whose circumference is larger than that of Mercury. Some of the moons revolve around the planet, others quite far away. Scientists believe that only one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, has an ocean below the surface. In this new effort, researchers sought to determine why Enceladus is unique in the Saturn system.

The researchers began by noting that Saturn had only five inner moons, each large enough to have an ocean below the surface and close enough to the planet to melt the ice. They also noted that previous work by others suggested that all internal moons would probably have formed as a result of the formation of coalesced materials extracted from debris around the planet, which would have included ice. They also noted that the gravitational pull of the planet and one of the other had an impact on the five moons. Finally, they noted that earlier researchers had created computer models designed to mimic the tides of Saturn's moons and their geology, but that to date, no model had been created to model the two, the only type model can explain why Moons have an ocean below the surface.

The researchers designed their model to mimic the behavior of Saturn and its moons over the past 4.5 billion years. The model showed that Enceladus had developed an underground ocean because of its unique gravitational interactions with other moons: it had forced Encelade into an oblong orbit. They also discovered that the Saturn attraction on the Moon continually distorted it and that the bending heated inside the Moon, allowing the groundwater to remain liquid. None of the other four moons had sufficiently similar conditions to allow the water to remain liquid under their surface.

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