Enceladus Has Oceans - Univ of Rome

Hey guys, did a quick search but came up empty.

A few articles coming out today stating that researchers at the University of Rome have confirmed that Saturn's moon Enceladus does in fact harbor a large ocean. The first site I found this at:

At Sea In Space - economist.com...

Earth is not the only orb with oceans. In 2005 Cassini, an American spacecraft, saw plumes of water shooting into space from cracks in the icy surface of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons (see picture). These suggest that Enceladus, too, has an ocean—albeit one completely covered by ice. The water in it, theory suggests, would be kept liquid by tides, which create internal friction and therefore heat. On April 3rd a team led by Luciano Iess of the University of Rome confirmed that the ocean exists, and also showed that, like Earth’s, it is not all-embracing. Dr Iess describes, in a paper in Science, how his team mapped Enceladus’s gravity by tracking Cassini’s orbit. The moon’s southern hemisphere is less massive than it would be were there no ocean, but its northern hemisphere is not. So the ocean covers only the southern part of the moon.

And another more lengthy article

Ocean Discovered on Enceladus... - theguardian.com...

Pretty cool news! Whether it means life is out there and so close is a debate, but water is a sign of new discoveries to come.

reply to post by andboycott

reply to post by Hoaxster


Thanks for the vid!

I wonder if there is any reason why an advanced civilization couldn't exist underwater as opposed to on the surface of a planet.

reply to post by andboycott


Aw man, you beat me to it. There's a lengthy article on Space.com which covers this topic in-depth. In the article it says that scientists conclude that the ocean mostly lies in the Southern hemisphere and extends up to the equator of Enceladus. I was just about to post this article.

www.space.com...

what temp would the 'water' in the ocean be, considering h2o is 'water' only within a range of 100 degrees C?!?

gardener
what temp would the 'water' in the ocean be, considering h2o is 'water' only within a range of 100 degrees C?!?

Tidal forces from Saturn heats up the rocky core of the moon. That heat in turn keeps the water warm enough to exist as liquid between that core and the icy crust.

Here's a thread I did on the moon. The plumes coming out from the moon have more than just water in them:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

gardener
what temp would the 'water' in the ocean be, considering h2o is 'water' only within a range of 100 degrees C?!?

It's water within that range at normal atmospheric pressure. Melting and freezing points can change under different pressures.

I am from michigan and the still of land and water, is clearly the upper peninsula and Lake Superior. Also Wisconsin's northeast side. It's a mirror image. HOAX!

There "IS" life there.

Acousticsasylum
I am from michigan and the still of land and water, is clearly the upper peninsula and Lake Superior. Also Wisconsin's northeast side. It's a mirror image. HOAX!

Clearly you didn't actually watch the video. Considering that this isn't a hoax since it's been verified by numerous scientific authorities and reported by multiple sources. It's not a theory, it's a fact.

Clearly your an idiot who didn't look at a map and compare. They can claim all the stuff they want, with all there PhDs. In the end, it is the 2nd grade skill of comparison that proves this a hoax. I think your logic and reason went " AWOL"

Acousticsasylum
Clearly your an idiot who didn't look at a map and compare. They can claim all the stuff they want, with all there PhDs. In the end, it is the 2nd grade skill of comparison that proves this a hoax. I think your logic and reason went " AWOL"

The map is used as an example. Whatevs though, if you want to be edgy and cool go for it. I was just trying to point out that anyone who thinks scientifically confirmed findings reported as news is a hoax should probably re-evaluate that stand point.

Acousticsasylum
I am from michigan and the still of land and water, is clearly the upper peninsula and Lake Superior. Also Wisconsin's northeast side. It's a mirror image. HOAX!

WOAH! Good find then, Univ Rome has fallen! =D

reply to post by andboycott


Living organisms found in some of the coldest places on earth and now a body of water on Enceladus, just sayin'

I, too, have felt for a while now that Enceladus could possibly be considered the top candidate for finding life as we know it in the solar system. Titan is probably also at the top of that list, but if Titan has life, it would NOT be life as we know it (the prospects of which would itself be very exciting, but that's another topic). Europa is up on that list, too, but it seems we have more evidence for the presence of these building blocks of life/organic compounds at Enceladus than we have evidence for that on Europa.

Anyway, here are a couple of NASA articles I have posted in the past in other treads about the potential for an underground ocean on Enceladus and the prospects of life there:

A Fizzy Ocean on Enceladus

Is it Snowing Microbes on Enceladus?

zazen
I wonder if there is any reason why an advanced civilization couldn't exist underwater as opposed to on the surface of a planet.

Mainly because the apendages useful for underwater life don't provide the ability to create and use tools. For instance, if dolphins were as intelligent as human beings, how would they be able to create an advanced modern civilization using their flippers?

OccamsRazor04

zazen
I wonder if there is any reason why an advanced civilization couldn't exist underwater as opposed to on the surface of a planet.

Mainly because the apendages useful for underwater life don't provide the ability to create and use tools. For instance, if dolphins were as intelligent as human beings, how would they be able to create an advanced modern civilization using their flippers?

I get what you are saying, but finding ANY complex life on Enceladus (even just non-intelligent fish-type life) would be tremendously huge news.

Heck, even finding microbial life would be, but I personally think simple microbial life is relatively common. Complex life (multi-celled with specialized organs and a centralized brain) on the other hand found in our solar system would also seem to indicate that it, too, is common.