Saturn's Moons: Spacecraft Finds Evidence of a Frozen Saltwater Ocean
The strangest world you've probably never heard of is located not that far from Earth. Indeed, it's part of our own solar system, orbiting friendly, familiar Saturn — part of the planet's giant swarm of 62 moons. Known as Enceladus after the mythological Greek giant, the moon was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1789 and is nothing short of a cosmic fantasyland.
Brilliantly white — it reflects almost 100% of the light that strikes it, compared with just 12% for our own moon — Enceladus is also petite: just 310 miles (500 km) across. Its brilliant reflectivity is owed to its frozen surface, which is forever being swept clean and repaved by sparkling geysers of ice regularly emitted by the moon. So powerful is this so-called cryovolcanism that as Enceladus circles Saturn, it leaves a trail of crystals in its wake like a steamship chugging smoke from its stack. This icy exhaust in turn helps feed Saturn's elaborate ring system.
The only thing a looking-glass place like Enceladus lacks is life, and at the moment there's no evidence that the moon is home to any biology at all. But a paper just released in the journal Nature brings even that remote possibility at least a little bit closer. According to the new findings, it's now more certain than ever that Enceladus is home to a vast ocean of saltwater just beneath its frozen rind — and it's in oceans similar to that that life emerged here on Earth.
The surprising conclusion is the result of a new analysis of data gathered by the Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, barnstorming its rings, its moons and the planet itself. On several occasions during its mission, Cassini has flown close to Enceladus, as well as through the vapor plume it leaves in the rings.
On all of those occasions, the spacecraft sampled the chemistry of Enceladus' exhaust, and each time it tasted salt. That by itself is tantalizing — at least when you're looking for organics — but it by no means seals the biological deal. Salt can form in space when vapors nucleate down from the gas phase to the crystalline phase too, which would mean that none of it actually came from an Enceladan ocean.
But not all of the salt found in the flybys was created equal. The icy vapor sampled out in the ring region had relatively low concentrations of very light salt crystals, while that sampled near Enceladus had lots of heavy, complex salts — and that fits the ocean model perfectly.
Pictures Of Planet Saturn - News
(See pictures of planet Earth from space.) What makes this theory especially promising is that if the Enceladan ocean is going to produce life, it has all the time it needs to do so. A little moon so deep in space ought not be able to keep a water
The planet Mercury doesn't come up in many conversations. Even among people inclined to talk about astronomy and the solar system, Mercury isn't often at the center of discussion. Jupiter? Sure. Saturn? Of course.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has been snapping stunning pictures of Saturn and its moons since 2004, allowing scientists to probe the ringed planet and its spheres like never before. Now, Chris Abbas, a designer and director at Digital
We learned of the runaway greenhouse effect that had stoked Venus to blistering temperatures and read about the giant storm that is Jupiter's red spot, and we gazed at pictures of the rings of Saturn that the Voyager spacecraft had sent back.
This eclipse squares Saturn in Libra and forms a "Grand Cross in Cardinal" aspect. The tables are turned. Events that happen here will have repercussions for a long time. A reminder to be tender and gentle with each other.
diadtocsucmoi: Pictures Of Saturn Planet
Need your advice. Filed I-485 on July 5th. I-140 is approved. Working with the employer for 6 yrs. Now that I filed for final stage, my employer wants me to sign a contract voluntarily that I should stay with them for 24 months. What are my legal options in state of CA? He wants to get 20K if I leave earlier than contract term. I signed it since he threatened me to revoke I-140. Can I backout after portability law kicks in. She joins the company in the next three months and applies for Perm before Sep 2010. By Sep 2011, her Perm might have been denied or approved and expired or (small chance of it being approved and not expired) . In first two cases, she cannot use her current Perm and has to rely on new Perm application with new company to extend H1B. Could this petition for extension be rejected because the new Perm was not filed 365 days before end of 6 years? I am looking at worst case scenario and the basis for USCIS to reject the extension. A new PERM filed before September 2010 will [I]probably[I] support an H1 extension beyond September 2011. There is contrary language in a May 30, 2008 USCIS memo on this issue, but the Vermont Service Center in liaison meetings with AILA has specifically confirmed that as long as the Perm is filed at least 365 days before the start date of the H-1 petition a one year extension is available.
Pictures Of Planet Saturn - Bookshelf
Computerworld
'Voyager 2' to Skirt Planet Saturn Tomorrow An Epic Told Mainly in Pictures data on every force and variable, no matter how minute, that can affect the ...Popular Science
The spacecraft will train a dozen instruments on the Saturn system — snapping pictures of the planet and its stormy atmosphere, mapping the surface of its ...Saturn, Overview and Abstracts
The Voyager pictures show four additional faint rings. Saturn's rings, unlike the rings of the other planets, are very bright (albedo 0.2 - 0.6). ...Scientific American, Supplement
The pictures admirably illustrate the application of the stcrcosco|ic In cases where the effect is due entirely to parallax. Fit*. 2. -THE PLANET SATURN AND ...History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 1
Another detailed old picture of Jupiter can be seen in fig. 2.22 Mediaeval pictures of the planet Saturn often re- ferred to the imagery of Saturn, ...Free Information Directory
Pictures of Saturn
Natural-color picture of Saturn, by the Hubble Space Telescope. The dot just above the planet's center is the shadow of its moon, Enceladus. ...
Planet Saturn - Overview and Pictures
An informative, in-depth description of Saturn with important facts and images.
Pictures of the Planet Saturn
Pictures and information about the planet Saturn. ... This planet's equatorial diameter is 74,898 miles, but its ring system - consisting mostly of ice - is about ...
Saturn Pictures, Saturn, Rings, Photos -- National Geographic
See pictures of the planet Saturn and its moons from National Geographic.
Saturn l Saturn facts, pictures and information.
In Roman mythology, Saturn is the god of agriculture. The associated Greek god, Cronus, was the son of Uranus and Gaia and the father of Zeus (Jupiter) ...