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Author Topic: NASA Confirms Liquid Water Below the Surface of Enceladus  (Read 4478 times)

atomic7732

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NASA Confirms Liquid Water Below the Surface of Enceladus
« on: June 24, 2009, 03:43:19 PM »
 :o

"The Cassini spacecraft first spotted the plume on its exploration of the giant ringed planet in 2005. Enceladus ejects water vapor, gas and tiny grains of
ice into space hundreds of kilometers above the moon’s surface.
The moon, which orbits in Saturn’s outermost “E” ring, is one of only
three outer solar system bodies that produce active eruptions of dust
and vapor. Moreover, aside from the Earth, Mars, and Jupiter’s moon
Europa, it is one of the only places in the solar system for which
astronomers have direct evidence of the presence of water.
The European researchers, led by Frank Postberg of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, are reporting  the detection of sodium salts among the dust ejected in the Enceladus plume. Postberg and colleagues have studied data from the Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) onboard the Cassini
spacecraft and have combined the data with laboratory experiments.
They say the icy grains in the Enceladus plume contain
substantial quantities of sodium salts, hinting at the salty ocean
deep below.
The results of their study imply that the concentration of sodium chloride in the ocean can be as high as that of Earth’s oceans and is about 0.1-0.3 moles of salt per kilogram of water.
But the Colorado study suggests a different interpretation."

Full story at: http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/24/does-enceladus-harbor-a-liquid-ocean-reasonable-minds-disagree/#more-33334

Chaotic Cow

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Re: NASA Confirms Liquid Water Below the Surface of Enceladus
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2009, 04:31:40 PM »
Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

We are beginning to find out water is more popular than we thought.

atomic7732

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Re: NASA Confirms Liquid Water Below the Surface of Enceladus
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2009, 05:09:38 PM »
Yeah, I know. It seems like there's water everywhere now!

Naru523

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Re: NASA Confirms Liquid Water Below the Surface of Enceladus
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2009, 08:45:21 PM »
Looks like we're going to begin a new era  ;D

NASA launches Ares 1 to Mars in 2040.

NASA launches ? ? ? to Titan in 2059.

I forgot the others, it's on On Demand.

atomic7732

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Re: NASA Confirms Liquid Water Below the Surface of Enceladus
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2009, 08:50:33 AM »
Looks like we're going to begin a new era  ;D

NASA launches Ares 1 to Mars in 2040.

NASA launches ? ? ? to Titan in 2059.

I forgot the others, it's on On Demand.

New Horizons is going to "asteroid (dwarf planet, but it has a number)" 134340 Pluto, and will be there in 2015.*
Dawn is going to 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta in 2013 and 2015, respectively.*
Dawn's mission may be extended to go to 2 Pallas in 2017.

*Launched already

atommo999

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Re: NASA Confirms Liquid Water Below the Surface of Enceladus
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2009, 10:55:07 AM »
i wonder if this will be the same case when they crash part of that rocket into the moon...