It Seems Unlikely That Enceladus' Methane Is From Any Process OTHER Than... Biology. Cool!

As we documented in real time, a few years back -- on one of its sweeps past the moon Enceladus, Cassini detected methane jets shooting from cracks in the thick surface at the poles. . . along with water vapor, of course. It was then thought that either a geo-chemical (non-life) process might be at work, in its sub-surface liquid water oceans, or less-probably, a biological one.

After careful analysis, using high end statistical methods, new research concludes that unless there is some new process we do not understand at work there, the amount of methane is far too great to be a geological by-product. No, it now seems the most likely explanation, to fit the data as observed. . . is a biological one.

That is. . . it may be a trace signature -- of microbial life, under those warm ocean-beds.

Here's that new Bayesian analysis / study -- and a bit:

. . .In particular, the amount of methane in the plumes caught astrobiologists' attention -- it seemed peculiarly high. Even so, it remained possible that known geochemical (that is, non-biological) processes could be responsible for the abundance.

That's no longer the case. Scientists have determined that no known process can be pumping out the amount of methane observed spewing from Enceladus. That means it could only be an unknown process -- or it could be biological in origin.

"We wanted to know: Could Earthlike microbes that 'eat' the dihydrogen and produce methane explain the surprisingly large amount of methane detected by Cassini?" said biologist Regis Ferriere of the University of Arizona. . . .

Enceladus is a fascinating place. It's far from the Sun, and armored by a thick shell of ice. However, swirling below that ice is a vast global ocean, one that may have currents and the necessary ingredients for life. . . .

The work was painstaking, taking into account the temperature of the seafloor and hydrothermal vents, and the effect a population of these microbes would have on their environment. In the end, the team found that the observed abundance of methane was too high to be the result of known geochemical processes. That means there could be microbes down there, in the dark depths of Enceladus' ocean. . . .

Now we will grin, ear to ear, all evening -- as the main theme from The Lone Ranger plays into the warm park air.

". . .Voices soft, and deep, and serious. . .

Words that whispered, songs that haunted. . . ."

That's. . . Longfellow, too -- smiling.

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