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Liquid Water found on Saturn's Moon!

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:38 am
by Wiseblud
Enceladus!

http://ciclops.org/index.php

As it turns out we flew Cassini right through the geyser and noticed ice crystals that could only have occured with a kind of immediate quick freezing.
They also say that there are organic chemicals down there too!

Image

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 6:18 am
by Hughie
I'm psyched! I was just mentioning this in the shoutbox earlier :D I look forward to more news about this, and I'm glad I'm not the only one interested.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:02 am
by Biert
Who's up for a drink on Saturns moon then?

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:13 am
by King Fear
Biert wrote:Who's up for a drink on Saturns moon then?

I'm up for anything "on the rocks". ;)

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:15 am
by Blazingmonga
I was there last week. I actually spilt my pasta pot...this is probably the water they are detecting.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:47 am
by Wiseblud
Blazingmonga wrote:I was there last week. I actually spilt my pasta pot...this is probably the water they are detecting.


I see.......Makes sense, since pasta is both high in carbohydrates and carbohydrates are organic substances. So we have frozen vermicelli making up part of Saturn's rings.

I'll call NASA right away. :wink:

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:48 am
by jon
damn you and you interplanetary meddling!!! *shakes fist*


do you think we'll find life on Enceladus?
theres obviously water and heat and a bit of activity under the surface.

will there be fishies?
will they taste good with mushy peas and chips?

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:01 am
by Dunkelheit
first time in aeons i see an interesting thread

takk

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:05 am
by Wiseblud
jon wrote:damn you and you interplanetary meddling!!! *shakes fist*


do you think we'll find life on Enceladus?
theres obviously water and heat and a bit of activity under the surface.

will there be fishies?
will they taste good with mushy peas and chips?


My answer to all those questions is I hope so.

*warning Fishing Jargon Ahead, and quite possibly a little innuendo*

In case there are fishies, Wise is goin to get hisself a Bass boat and attach it to the trailer hitch on the back of every Space shuttle. No fish can resist a drunk Tennesseean with a bald spinner bait. :shock: :?:

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:19 am
by Biert
King Fear wrote:
Biert wrote:Who's up for a drink on Saturns moon then?

I'm up for anything "on the rocks". ;)

I thought they had liquid water :P

Actually, a planet covered with ice cubes would be a much greater discovery :lol:

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 10:06 am
by BlueRaja
I had spaghetti last night. Little did I know Mango was having the same thing only a few light years away. :shock:

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:01 pm
by Biert
BlueRaja wrote:I had spaghetti last night. Little did I know Mango was having the same thing only a few light years away. :shock:

Saturn isn't that far away! It orbits around the same sun as we do!

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:27 pm
by Coma Divine
Image

Awesome. 8)

Note the blue colour near the surface cracks. Though actually an "enhanced" colour image, it gave a bit of a clue when it was first published last July.
It also gives fresh hope for liquid water on Europa, though I suspect the surface ice there is much thicker.
Good to know we've somewhere to go once we use up all the H20 down here... :wink:

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:44 pm
by Coma Divine
In other, slightly off topic news: the Mars Reconnasissance Orbiter begins orbital REPLACEion in a little over 30 minutes (at time of this post) and, if all goes well - should be reporting A-OK in a little under 2 hours from now.
This will bring the number of active orbiting Martian probes to FOUR, as well as the 2 surface rovers which have performed WELL past their warranty. 8)

Fingers and toes crossed kiddies. The MRO has the capacity to gather more data about Mars than every other orbital probe that has ever been sent.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:48 pm
by Wiseblud
Yeah, AFAIK there is actually a mission being brainstormed about coming up with a submersible rover which will drill through the ice of europa to get to the water. The good news is that we may see the results at some point in our lifetime.

I say make 2 and send one to enceladus. Its funny how all the reports I have seen on the news mention it Saturn's Moon and not by its proper name. Funny thing is before today, I had never heard of enceladus.