Saturn's Moon Enceladus

And now onto another moon - Saturn's moon Enceladus. Just as we wonder about Pluto's changing surface and Charon's canyons, this moon is believed to have seas below the surface that could harbor life. The image above from the Cassini spacecraft provides a full view of the beautiful surface of this distant moon. 

NASA has more to say on this:

Do some surface features on Enceladus roll like a conveyor belt? A leading interpretation of images taken of Saturn's most explosive moon indicate that they do. This form of asymmetric tectonic activity, very unusual on Earth, likely holds clues to the internal structure of Enceladus, which may contain subsurface seas where life might be able to develop.  Pictured above is a composite of 28 images taken by the robotic Cassini spacecraft in 2008 just after swooping by the ice-spewing orb. Inspection of these images show clear tectonic displacements where large portions of the surface all appear to move all in one direction. On the image right appears one of the most prominent tectonic divides: Labtayt Sulci, a canyon about one kilometer deep. The small magnitude of Enceladus' wobble as it orbits Saturn might indicate damping by a globally extending underground ocean layer.

One possible mission being considered by NASA is called Enceladus Life Finder (ELF), which would entail a spacecraft flying through the moon's plume of surface material and returning the sample to Earth for further study.  An intriguing idea that will tell us much more about what is happening on the moon. 

Away from the Politics II: Discoveries in the Solar System

The past few weeks have been full of announcements on discoveries within our solar system.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Subsurface Lake on Enceladus:  NASA's Cassini probe has identified a reservoir of water on Saturn's moon (shown above in comparison to our own Moon) that is 19 to 25 miles thick, or equivalent to the water in one of the Great Lakes (I have read comparisons to either Lake Erie or Lake Superior).  What does this mean?  NASA stated: "The subsurface ocean evidence supports the inclusion of Enceladus among the most likely places in our solar system to host microbial life."  Interesting indeed.

• An Asteroid with Rings:  Rings were found around an asteroid named Chariklo, which orbits in the outer solar system between Saturn and Uranus.  Chariklo is one of the larger objects in that region being about 155 miles across. This is the first non-planetary body in our solar system we have identified with its own rings.

• New Icy Object Beyond the Kuiper Belt:  Astronomers have spotted a new object now labeled 2012VP113 (not very dramatic) that orbits outside the Kuiper Belt, which contains Pluto.  We already know that dwarf planet Sedna is out in those reaches.  This raises some interesting questions.  The Sydney Morning Herald reports this could indicate something is pulling these ice objects out that far, such as undiscovered giant planet or maybe a passing star from long ago.