00:00This is Enceladus, one of Saturn's many moons, and while it might look like a frozen
00:08wasteland, astronomers are now saying it has all of the building blocks for life.
00:12It's what is often referred to as an ocean moon, though all of its surface water is frozen
00:16due to its extreme distance from the Sun.
00:19Still, when the Cassini mission imaged the planet a few years ago, it documented plumes
00:23of water erupting from the surface, as seen here in these images.
00:27More of Cassini's data has now been analyzed, finding that there is more than simply liquid
00:30water under its frozen surface.
00:33The probe's Cosmic Dust Analyzer noted that those geysers contain carbon dioxide, carbon
00:37monoxide, and trace amounts of molecular nitrogen, simple hydrocarbons, and complex organic chemicals.
00:43Many things we know are needed for life to survive.
00:46What's more, the relation of carbon to nitrogen to phosphorus seems to align with the Redfield
00:50Ratio, or the ratio of those very elements on Earth, which are a relative constant in
00:54our planet's oceans.
00:56And this sort of supports previous studies that suggested Enceladus may be supporting
01:00methanogenesis, or life that breathes methane rather than oxygen.
01:04The researchers say it's still early days with regards to giving the green light about
01:08life on Saturn's moon.
01:09However, they add in their study that they recommend broadening the scope of Earth-analog
01:13environments to include those with extreme resource-supply ratios, mirroring that suggested
01:18for Enceladus.
Comments