One of Saturn’s many moons, Enceladus, might look like a frozen wasteland, but astronomers are now saying it has all of the building blocks for life. It’s an ocean moon, though all of its surface water is frozen. Still experts say it has many signs it is harboring life.
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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.