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A new study has revealed complex organic molecules from the frozen moon of Saturn Enceladus, and the results reinforce the idea that the oceanic world hosts adequate conditions for life.
The research was done by Frank Postberg and Nozair Khawaja, of the University of Heidelberg, Germany, who took data from the Cbadini spacecraft.
"This is the first detection of organic compounds from an alien aquatic world," says Frank Postberg
During the 13 years Cbadini was in orbit around the planet, several scientists concluded that Enceladus, 500 kilometers in diameter, had a submarine ocean hidden under a thick layer of frost.
to powerful hydrothermal vents on the seabed that mix the matter of the moon's water, porous core with seawater.
In addition, geysers were detected that release a mixture of water vapor and ice from the oceans in the space. through cracks called "tiger strips", in the icy layer of the moon, which provides material for one of the rings of the planet.
The study published in the journal "Nature" identifies fragments of large organic molecules in these expelled ice grains
"These huge molecules contain a complex network often constructed from hundreds of atoms carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and possibly nitrogen forming substructures in the form of a ring and a chain, "said Nozair Khawaja
The European Space Agency (ESA) reported that fragments, up to 200 units of molecular mbad, are created when the ice grains hit the instrument that badyzes the Cbadini dust at a speed of 30 thousand kilometers per hour.
However, the researchers believe that, before the collision, the particles contain the original molecules, even of larger size and molecular weight. 19659003] The text states that large molecules can only be created by processes complex chemicals, including those related to life. However, they could come from materials such as meteorites or be generated by hydrothermal activity.
"In my opinion, the fragments we found are of hydrothermal origin, having been treated in the hydrothermally active core of Enceladus: The high temperatures and the high temperatures we expect there it is possible that complex organic molecules may occur, "Postberg said.
Simulations done by scientists show that heat to drive hydrothermal activity could be generated by friction of the tide if the moon has a porous core with ocean water infiltrating through it
Because of the above, organic matter is injected into the ocean through vents hydrothermal in the ocean floor of Enceladus, a phenomenon similar to the hydrothermal sites that lie at the bottom of the oceans on Earth.
On the planet "blue", organic substances The deepwater nicas can accumulateeffectively in the walls of rising air bubbles, to be transported to the surface where they disperse at the same time as the spray when the bubble bursts.
Scientists believe that a similar process occurs at Enceladus, where gas bubbles rising tens of kilometers from the ocean, could draw organic matter from the bottom where they form a thin film that floats on the surface of the ocean below the ice cap.
A new study revealed that it is possible that, on a moon of Saturn, she sheltered life. (ARCHIVER)
Science of Saturn's Moon
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– MD
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