A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » News
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Enceladus Shows Evidence of Ammonia



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old July 22nd 09, 11:10 PM posted to sci.space.news
ron
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 269
Default Enceladus Shows Evidence of Ammonia

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2238

Saturnian Moon Shows Evidence of Ammonia
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
July 22, 2009

Data collected during two close flybys of Saturn's moon Enceladus by
NASA's Cassini spacecraft add more fuel to the fire about the
Saturnian
ice world containing sub-surface liquid water. The data collected by
Cassini's Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer during Enceladus flybys in
July and Oct. 2008, were released in the July 23 issue of the journal
Nature.

"When Cassini flew through the plume erupting from Enceladus on
October
8 of last year, our spectrometer was able to sniff out many complex
chemicals, including organic ones, in the vapor and icy particles,"
said
Hunter Waite, the Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer Lead
Scientist from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.
"One of the chemicals definitively identified was ammonia."

On Earth, the presence of ammonia means the potential for sparkling
clean floors and counter tops. In space, the presence of ammonia
provides strong evidence for the existence of at least some liquid
water.

How could ammonia equate to liquid water inside an ice-covered moon in
one of the chillier neighborhoods of our solar system? As many a
homeowner interested in keeping their abodes spick and span know,
ammonia promptly dissolves in water. But what many people do not
realize
is that ammonia acts as antifreeze, keeping water liquid at lower
temperatures than would otherwise be possible. With the presence of
ammonia, water can exist in a liquid state to temperatures as low as
176
degrees Kelvin (-143 degrees Fahrenheit).

"Given that temperatures in excess of 180 Kelvin (-136 degrees
Fahrenheit) have been measured near the fractures on Enceladus where
the
jets emanate, we think we have an excellent argument for a liquid
water
interior," said Waite.

Cassini discovered water vapor and particles spewing from Enceladus in
2005. Since then, scientists have been trying to determine if the
plume
originates from a liquid source inside the moon or is due to other
causes.

"Ammonia is sort of a holy grail for icy volcanism," said William
McKinnon, a scientist from Washington University in Saint Louis,
Missouri. "This is the first time we've found it for sure on an icy
satellite of a giant planet. It is probably everywhere in the Saturn
system."

Just how much water is contained within Enceladus' icy interior is
still
up for debate. So far, Cassini has made five flybys of Enceladus, one
of
the chief targets for Cassini's extended mission. Two close flybys are
scheduled for November of this year, and two more close flybys are
scheduled for April and May or 2010. Data collected during these
future
flybys may help settle the debate.

"Where liquid water and organics exist, is there life?" asked Jonathan
Lunine a Cassini scientist from the University of Arizona, Tucson.
"Such
is the case for Earth; what was found on Enceladus bolsters this
moon's
promise for containing potential habitable environments."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Cassini
orbiter
was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. JPL manages the mission
for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in
Washington.

More information about the Cassini mission is available at
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini or http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

Media Contacts: DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.


Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
evidence gathered so far that supports the Atom Totality theory and shows Big Bang to be a fake a_plutonium Astronomy Misc 6 January 2nd 07 11:45 PM
liquid Water Evidence on Saturn's Moon Enceladus Hayley UK Astronomy 0 March 11th 06 09:30 AM
Arecibo Radar Shows No Evidence of Thick Ice At Lunar Poles Ron Baalke Astronomy Misc 0 November 12th 03 07:02 PM
Arecibo Radar Shows No Evidence of Thick Ice At Lunar Poles Ron Baalke Science 0 November 12th 03 07:02 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:59 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.