Saturn is one of the largest planets in our Solar System, and it’s also one of the most unique.
It has more moons than any other planet, at a whopping 82 discovered so far,
and there may be even more moons found in the future
One of the primary goals of almost every space agency is to find life on planets
outside of our own, and so far, it hasn’t been an astounding success, but this recent discovery on a
Saturn moon might just change everything. With so many moons to potentially study, scientists didn’t
even know where to start when it comes to Saturn; many of Saturn’s moons don’t even have names yet.
Its largest moon, Titan, gets by far the most attention out of all of its moons,
and thus, has received more research funding from various different space agencies.
But what surprised everyone was that Titan wasn’t the moon where this incredible discovery was made,
it was actually made on Enceladus, Saturn’s sixth largest moon.
For a bit of a background on Enceladus, it’s about 500 kilometers, or 310 miles in diameter,
and is completely dwarfed by its larger brother, Titan, which is 10 times the size of Enceladus.
Still, Enceladus is quite unique as it’s covered with a clean layer of ice and
it’s highly reflective, often considered the most reflective object in the solar system.
It’s believed that Enceladus has a massive ocean that’s hidden
underneath its frozen crust. But enough about the moon’s characteristics,
as it’s something else that has put this moon on the minds of so many astronomists.
In recent years, a team of scientists led by Dr. Nozair Khawaja from the University of Berlin
made a remarkable discovery about Enceladus. They were studying and analyzing the information that
they received from NASA back in 2018 when NASA’s Cassini aircraft discovered complex macromolecular
organics that might be vital to all life, similar to here on earth. These complex macromolecular
organics have never been found on any other object in space before, whether it’s a planet or a rock,
the only other place they’re really found is here on Earth. Considering that Enceladus is also a
moon with a massive ocean, similar to Earth, it might mean that Enceladus is actually one of the
only places in space where life, even human life, might thrive. The molecules found on Enceladus are
mostly found on amino acids, but these amino acids aren’t known to be what life on Earth depends on,
but Dr. Khawaja says that even the discovery of such a thing might be something groundbreaking.
He said, "If the conditions are right, these molecules coming from the deep ocean of Enceladus
could be on the same reaction pathway as we see here on Earth,
we don't yet know if amino acids are needed for life beyond Earth,
but finding the molecules that form amino acids is an important piece of the puzzle."
The discovery of these molecules was made because of the cracks in the ice sheet of Enceladus that
are made because of hydrothermal activity, which would then let out ice grains and vapor
that are deep within its ocean. The molecule discovered within them was mostly made up of
oxygen and nitrogen, and almost the exact same molecule is also found on earth and nowhere else.
In fact, these molecules are even released in a similar way on earth,
through vents located on the ocean floor. The only difference is that we don’t have an ice
sheet that prevents these molecules from coming out, but if Enceladus didn’t have its ice sheet,
we could potentially have another mini-Earth in our solar system.
This discovery has led to a lot more focus on researching Enceladus specifically,
even over much larger Saturn moons and even entire planets.
There are currently multiple research papers being prepared about Enceladus, and more discoveries are
being made about this moon than ever before. If anything substantial comes out of these research
papers, as well as any future exploration projects that are bound to happen by the likes of NASA,
it may change our understanding of life beyond Earth. Aside from finding current life,
we’re also always looking to find past life in places outside the earth, and there’s probably
no better place to look for right now other than on Enceladus. As for what we can expect to find
on Enceladus and how long it will take, only time will tell, but things are looking bright
for the people who are working day in and day out researching this truly fascinating moon.
But aside from just this one discovery made on one of Saturn’s moons,
this discovery has also brought the question of what other Saturn moons are like.
We don’t even know how many moons Saturn exactly has, let alone have any substantial information
about each individual moon. We don’t have clear pictures of many of the smaller, and even bigger
moons, and it all brings into question that what if there are even more signs of life
on the moons we haven’t been discovering. That is clearly a possibility that we can’t take lightly,
although some of Saturn’s moons don’t even slightly resemble each other.
The largest of these moons, as we’ve mentioned, is Titan. Titan is massive for a moon,
it’s the second-largest natural satellite in our solar system, and it’s even bigger than Pluto.
It’s about 50% bigger than Earth’s moon, for comparison, and the earth would look
very different if Titan were its moon instead (and we’d probably see a lot more tidal waves instead
of friendly waves. Much like Enceladus, Titan has its own similarities with the Earth. It’s the only
known object in our solar system (and potentially, the universe), where there is evidence of surface
liquid present. Titan is mostly made up of ice and rock, and its atmosphere is mostly
made up of nitrogen. Sometimes, the atmosphere of Titan can turn orange due to organonitrogen haze.
NASA has been researching Titan and the potential for life on the moon for a long time now. They
announced the Dragonfly mission last year, which will consist of a spacecraft actually reaching
the moon and conducting various flybys as well as collecting samples. The Dragonfly mission hopes to
find and study prebiotic chemical processes that are common on both Titan and Earth, which means
that there might soon be another Saturn moon with a similar molecule as the Earth. Dragonfly will
launch in the mid-2020s, and may reach Titan as late as the mid-2030s, so we still have to wait
a little before we get any information about Titan, but it’s still some very exciting news.
NASA wrote on their website, “Titan is an analog to the very early Earth, and can provide clues to
how life may have arisen on our planet. During its 2.7-year baseline mission, Dragonfly will explore
diverse environments from organic dunes to the floor of an impact crater where liquid water and
complex organic materials key to life once existed together for possibly tens of thousands of years.
Its instruments will study how far prebiotic chemistry may have progressed.
They also will investigate the moon’s atmospheric and surface properties and its subsurface ocean
and liquid reservoirs. Additionally, instruments will search for chemical evidence of past or
extant life.” This statement only gives us more hope that it will indeed be one of Saturn’s
moons where life might actually be found, whether existing or previous. The fact that even NASA, a
space organization that normally stays quiet when it comes to speculation on extraterrestrial life,
is actually making an observation on Titan’s similarities to Earth is a big statement in
and of itself, and it’s now a race between Dr. Khawaja trying to figure out whether he
can link amino acids to life on Earth, and NASA trying to reach Titan, collect samples,
and studying them as soon as possible, and for us observers, the competition is simply exciting.
Whether or not any life will actually be found on either of these two moons, one thing is clear,
we have never known so much about our solar system in the past, and this is only just the beginning.
Even if we don’t find life on these moons, we will go home with priceless research that
wouldn’t have even been imaginable just 20 years ago. Space research is advancing at an extremely
rapid pace, considering the first spacecraft was launched only 64 years ago by the Soviet Union,
it’s a wonder what the next 64 years have in store for us in terms of space travel. What do you think
will be the conclusion of all these different missions? Let us know in the comments below!
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