Nov. 7 (UPI) — Saturn’s Enceladus moon might be capable of supporting life, according to data collected by NASA’s Cassini mission and compiled in a new study in the Science Advances journal.
The moon is one of the most promising for supporting extra-terrestrial life among Saturn’s 274 moons, and data show it is capable of long-term stability that would enable life to develop, the University of Oxford announced Friday.
Researchers from Oxford, the Southwest Research Institute and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz., determined heat is flowing from the north and south poles of Enceladus, which is about 310 miles in diameter.
“Enceladus is a key target in the search for life outside of Earth,” said Georgina Miles of the Southwest Research Institute and the study’s lead author.
“Understanding the long-term availability of its energy is key to determining whether it can support life,” Miles said.
Prior studies only discovered heat loss at the moon’s south pole, but the new study shows similar activity at the north pole of Enceladus.
“This finding confirms that the icy moon is emitting far more heat than would be expected if it were simply a passive body, strengthening the case that it could support life,” researchers said.
They describe Enceladus as a “highly active world with a global, salty subsurface ocean believed to be the source of its heat.”
The presence of water, heat and chemicals, such as phosphorus and hydrocarbons, makes the moon one of the most promising places within the solar system for life to have evolved away from Earth.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in 2005 identified Enceladus as having an active ocean when it discovered large plumes of water vapor rising from the ocean through fractures in the moon’s surface, according to Space.com.
The moon’s subsurface ocean must have balanced energy gains and losses to create a stable environment capable of supporting life.
Such a balance is achieved and maintained by tidal heating on Enceladus due to the gravitational effects of Saturn, according to the study.
Saturn’s gravity compresses and elongates the moon while it orbits around the planet, which generates internal heat.
If the moon were to get too much energy, its subsurface ocean activity would rise and alter its environment, while too little energy would cause the ocean to freeze and slow or stop the moon’s surface activity.
The discovery of activity at both poles is promising, but researchers said additional study is needed to determine how old the hidden ocean is beneath the moon’s surface to learn if it has existed long enough to support the development of life.