Here's the latest scoop, from NASA -- as Cassini continues to pay dividends, over six years after it plunged into Saturn's thick cloud cover, and incinerated:
. . .Using data collected by NASA’s Cassini mission, an international team of scientists has discovered phosphorus – an essential chemical element for life – locked inside salt-rich ice grains ejected into space from Enceladus.
The small moon is known to possess a subsurface ocean, and water from that ocean erupts through cracks in Enceladus’ icy crust as geysers at its south pole, creating a plume. The plume then feeds Saturn’s E ring (a faint ring outside of the brighter main rings) with icy particles.
During its mission at the gas giant from 2004 to 2017, Cassini flew through the plume and E ring numerous times. Scientists found that Enceladus’ ice grains contain a rich array of minerals and organic compounds – including the ingredients for amino acids – associated with life as we know it. . . .
And. . . so it would seem it is now a question of when -- not whether -- we will see clear evidence of extra-terrestrial organics. An amazing time to be alive, indeed. Getting excited now, to catch a plane, here much closer to our own pale blue dot. Heh. . . .
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