Tethys and Dione active? what else is out there?

So far we have evidence that Saturn's moon Enceladus is very active, contributing to Saturn's E ring, other moons in the solar system - including Neptune's Triton and Jupiter's Io are also active, scientists are now turning their attention to Tethys and Dione.

Evidence exists for something going on with some of these moons: two distinct streams of charged gas detected in the Saturnian magnetic environment appear to have originated at Tethys and Dione. Signs of past surface melting and gravitational squeezing of these moons point to the possibility that Tethys and Dione could be warmed by friction and therefore be active.

What I find interesting is the fact we know very little about these moons (in relation to their activity) as no direct evidence has been observed by Cassini, it really makes me think, we have a fair bit of information on the planets in our solar system yet the moons seem to be still producing exciting finds, I get the feeling we'll find out much more over the next decade or two concerning their activity, and maybe even evidence of life somewhere on a moon.. Who knows? If you think about it, It took a 25-year wait to capture images and other measurements of the plume on Enceladus, so what else do we have in store out there waiting to be found in the future?


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[edit on 14-2-2010 by Majestic RNA]

I like the idea of the possibility of there being life on the moons around these giant planets. Personally I think it would be good to get rid of the whole "Goldie Locks Zone" babble. Evidence showing that these moons are warm enough to support life would do it.

There are a lot of myths associated with these planets and their moons in connection with past civilizations here on Earth. Proof that life can exist around these planets, on their moons, or even floating in the upper atmospheres would turn astrophysics on its head. This would also bring up a myriad of questions pertaining to how this could be possible and if there is any real connection between science and ancient myths. In my opinion evidence that brings up questions like these in this manner means we are heading in the correct direction.

reply to post by Devino



Hi Devino, Yes I agree with you on the search for life only in the habitable zone should be expanded, I guess the scientists are using a matter of elimination concerning the search, find out if there are planets like ours first, if not then look further out, I really wouldn't be surprised if we one day found life on enceladus, under the surface crust the supposed ocean is somewhat warm with the gravitational forces put on the small moon by Saturn, you have water, heat and the chemical building blocks of life on that moon, it's not completely unscientific to suspect it may harbour life.

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It does make you wonder if myths associated with the planets and moons have any Bearing in science fact, I would love to see the day when astrophysics was turned on its head, the whole scientific community would have to go back to the drawing board concerning life in our solar system, let's hope this happens in our lifetime!




[edit on 14-2-2010 by Majestic RNA]

Speaking of which, have we confirmed anything particularly nifty about Europa yet?
hmm.... it appears I need a second line.

[edit on 15-2-2010 by TokiTheGreat]

double post, my bad

[edit on 15-2-2010 by TokiTheGreat]

reply to post by TokiTheGreat


Hi Toki, I haven't seen anything new about Europa for a while, the last information about Jupiter's moon I saw that interested me was new research suggesting there is enough Oxygen on the subsurface to support complex life...

New research suggests that there is plenty of oxygen available in the subsurface ocean of Europa to support oxygen-based metabolic processes for life similar to that on Earth. In fact, there may be enough oxygen to support complex, animal-like organisms with greater oxygen demands than microorganisms.

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[edit on 16-2-2010 by Majestic RNA]

reply to post by Majestic RNA


Now, I think the best question is, why did we stop there? Why not send a probe to see whats up? I think it would be pretty cool if we could inhabit moons of other planets.

Originally posted by TokiTheGreat
reply to post by Majestic RNA

 

Now, I think the best question is, why did we stop there? Why not send a probe to see whats up? I think it would be pretty cool if we could inhabit moons of other planets.

The simple answer is … we didn't stop there, there is a planned mission to the Jupiter system due to launch in 2020, it's called 'Europa Jupiter System Mission' so in ten years time NASA and the ESA are sending two spacecraft out to the moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

The Europa Jupiter System Mission will use two robotic orbiters to conduct unprecedented detailed studies of the giant gaseous planet Jupiter and its moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. NASA will build one spacecraft, initially named Jupiter Europa Orbiter. ESA will build the other spacecraft, initially named Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter. The two spacecraft are scheduled to launch in 2020 on two separate launch vehicles from different launch sites. They will reach the Jupiter system in 2026 and spend at least three years conducting research.

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I don't think they plan to try and smash their way through the subsurface as of yet, but with all these things it takes time and pre missions to gather data to see if indeed it's worthy of such a mission, I personally would like to see NASA and the ESA bite the bullet and launch an impactor probe, but as far as I'm aware this planned mission doesn't involve an impactor. There has been talk of such a mission called the 'Europa Hyper-Velocity Impactor' but it's yet to have the go ahead, this is down to many factors but my guess is it's mainly political. To quote Karl Hibbitts in 2006 (a research scientist involved with the Europa Hyper-Velocity Impactor)

'It will happen in the future. Political priorities do waffle, but the science priorities have remained constant for the last 10 years. And Europa has always been a top priority'.

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