* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Saturday, July 19, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Theater at Santa Fe’s San Isidro Plaza will be converted into IMAX, family entertainment venue – Santa Fe New Mexican

    Santa Fe’s San Isidro Plaza Theater Transforms into Exciting IMAX Family Entertainment Venue

    B&B Theatres will open massive entertainment complex in Texas – The Business Journals

    B&B Theatres will open massive entertainment complex in Texas – The Business Journals

    Rough times for broadcast networks illustrate changing media landscape – New Haven Register

    Broadcast Networks Confront Turbulent Times in a Rapidly Changing Media Landscape

    Black River Entertainment Adds Traci Hite As Director Of Promotion, Southeast – MusicRow.com

    Black River Entertainment Welcomes Traci Hite as New Director of Southeast Promotion

    Entertainment Business Master’s Grad Launched Nonprofit to Nurture Emerging Artists – Full Sail University

    Entertainment Business Master’s Grad Launched Nonprofit to Nurture Emerging Artists – Full Sail University

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

    A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

    Simpson College to purchase medical simulation technology with grant funds – Iowa Capital Dispatch

    Simpson College to purchase medical simulation technology with grant funds – Iowa Capital Dispatch

    SailGP Technologies officially launches new center of excellence in technology & innovation – Sail-World.com

    SailGP Technologies officially launches new center of excellence in technology & innovation – Sail-World.com

    Victorville’s new gunfire-detecting technology already making strides, city says – NBC Los Angeles

    Victorville’s New Gunfire-Detecting Technology Is Already Making a Difference, City Officials Say

    Guest columnist: China cutting corners on technology – The State Journal

    China’s Rapid Tech Advances Spark Worries About Cutting Corners

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF technology integrated into Rafael’s combat-proven Drone Dome system – Defence Industry Europe

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF Technology Boosts Rafael’s Battle-Tested Drone Dome System

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Theater at Santa Fe’s San Isidro Plaza will be converted into IMAX, family entertainment venue – Santa Fe New Mexican

    Santa Fe’s San Isidro Plaza Theater Transforms into Exciting IMAX Family Entertainment Venue

    B&B Theatres will open massive entertainment complex in Texas – The Business Journals

    B&B Theatres will open massive entertainment complex in Texas – The Business Journals

    Rough times for broadcast networks illustrate changing media landscape – New Haven Register

    Broadcast Networks Confront Turbulent Times in a Rapidly Changing Media Landscape

    Black River Entertainment Adds Traci Hite As Director Of Promotion, Southeast – MusicRow.com

    Black River Entertainment Welcomes Traci Hite as New Director of Southeast Promotion

    Entertainment Business Master’s Grad Launched Nonprofit to Nurture Emerging Artists – Full Sail University

    Entertainment Business Master’s Grad Launched Nonprofit to Nurture Emerging Artists – Full Sail University

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

    Review: At the Huntington, the New Hollywood String Quartet recalls legendary studio musicians – Los Angeles Times

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

    A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

    Simpson College to purchase medical simulation technology with grant funds – Iowa Capital Dispatch

    Simpson College to purchase medical simulation technology with grant funds – Iowa Capital Dispatch

    SailGP Technologies officially launches new center of excellence in technology & innovation – Sail-World.com

    SailGP Technologies officially launches new center of excellence in technology & innovation – Sail-World.com

    Victorville’s new gunfire-detecting technology already making strides, city says – NBC Los Angeles

    Victorville’s New Gunfire-Detecting Technology Is Already Making a Difference, City Officials Say

    Guest columnist: China cutting corners on technology – The State Journal

    China’s Rapid Tech Advances Spark Worries About Cutting Corners

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF technology integrated into Rafael’s combat-proven Drone Dome system – Defence Industry Europe

    Sentrycs’ Cyber Over RF Technology Boosts Rafael’s Battle-Tested Drone Dome System

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus: Study Proves Existence of Key Element for Life in the Outer Solar System

July 1, 2023
in Science
Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus: Study Proves Existence of Key Element for Life in the Outer Solar System
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Researchers from Freie Universität Berlin have discovered phosphorus in the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

The search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system has just taken a giant leap forward. A team of researchers led by Professor Frank Postberg, a planetary scientist at Freie Universität Berlin, has discovered new evidence that the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus contains a key building block for life. The international research team used data from the Cassini space mission to detect phosphorus in the form of phosphates in ice particles – originating from the moon’s ice-covered global ocean – that had been ejected into space by the moon’s cryo-volcanic plume. The study was published in the scientific journal Nature on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.

“Previous geochemical models were divided on the question of whether Enceladus’ ocean contains significant quantities of phosphates at all,” says Professor Postberg. “These Cassini measurements leave no doubt that substantial quantities of this essential substance are present in the ocean water.” Phosphorus in the form of phosphates is vital for all life on Earth. It is essential for the creation of DNA and RNA, cell membranes, and ATP (the universal energy carrier in cells) for example. Life as we know it would simply not exist without phosphates.

“By determining such high phosphate concentrations readily available in Enceladus’ ocean, we have now satisfied what is generally considered one of the strictest requirements in establishing whether celestial bodies are habitable,” says early-career researcher Dr. Fabian Klenner, who has since relocated to Seattle where he continues to conduct research at the University of Washington. “The next step is clear – we need to go back to Enceladus to see if the habitable ocean is actually inhabited,” adds Dr. Nozair Khawaja, a planetary scientist originally from Pakistan who is now firmly established at Freie Universität Berlin.

Saturn's Moon Enceladus Cassini Mosaic

During a 2005 flyby, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft took high-resolution images of Enceladus that were combined into this mosaic, which shows the long fissures at the moon’s south pole that allow water from the subsurface ocean to escape into space. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

A few years ago the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, which was deployed by NASA and ESA into Saturn’s orbit between 2004 and 2017, discovered Enceladus’ subsurface liquid water ocean and analyzed samples in a plume of ice grains and gases that erupt into space from cracks in the moon’s icy crust. In previous studies, Postberg’s team had already determined that Enceladus harbors a “soda ocean” (rich in dissolved carbonates) and contains a vast variety of reactive and sometimes complex organic compounds. They also found indications of hydrothermal environments on the seafloor.

However, the research team at Freie Universität Berlin only recently discovered unmistakable signatures of phosphates in the data. What is crucial for bioavailability is that the phosphates are not trapped in rocky minerals but dissolved in the ocean as salt. The phosphate concentrations were determined to be at least 100 to 1,000 times higher than in Earth’s oceans. To investigate how Enceladus could maintain such high phosphate concentrations in its ocean, lab experiments were conducted in cooperation with a team of researchers located in Japan (led by Professor Yasuhito Sekine) and the US (Dr. Christopher R. Glein).

NASA Cassini Grand Finale

Artist’s depiction of NASA’s Cassini during its 2017 “grand finale,” in which the spacecraft dove between Saturn and its rings multiple times before purposefully crashing into the planet’s atmosphere. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“Our geochemical experiments and modeling demonstrate that such high phosphate concentrations result from enhanced phosphate mineral solubility, for which the specific conditions exist not only on Enceladus, but more generally throughout the entire outer solar system,” explains Postberg. “That’s great news for a number of ocean worlds outside of Jupiter.”

One of the most profound discoveries in planetary science over the past twenty-five years is that worlds with oceans beneath a surface layer of ice are common in our solar system. They contain considerably more water than all of the oceans on Earth combined and include the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn like Ganymede, Titan, and Enceladus, as well as even more distant celestial bodies like Pluto. Planets with surface oceans like Earth must reside within a narrow range of distances from their host stars (in what is known as the “habitable zone”) to maintain temperatures at which water neither evaporates nor freezes. Worlds with an interior ocean like Enceladus, however, can occur over a much wider range of distances, greatly expanding the number of habitable worlds likely to exist across the galaxy.

For more on this discovery:

Critical Ingredient for Life Discovered at Saturn’s Moon EnceladusBuilding Block for Life Discovered in Enceladus’ OceanFirst Direct Evidence of Phosphorus on an Extraterrestrial Ocean World

Reference: “Detection of phosphates originating from Enceladus’s ocean” by Frank Postberg, Yasuhito Sekine, Fabian Klenner, Christopher R. Glein, Zenghui Zou, Bernd Abel, Kento Furuya, Jon K. Hillier, Nozair Khawaja, Sascha Kempf, Lenz Noelle, Takuya Saito, Juergen Schmidt, Takazo Shibuya, Ralf Srama and Shuya Tan, 14 June 2023, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05987-9

Professor Frank Postberg is head of Planetary Sciences and Remote Sensing at the Institute of Geological Sciences and led the “Detection of Phosphates Originating from Enceladus’ Ocean” study, which included six other employees from Freie Universität Berlin. By analyzing data from the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer, the team was able to detect clear signatures from high concentrations of water-soluble sodium phosphates (such as Na2HPO4) in ice particles from Enceladus’s ocean. This ocean was already considered one of the most likely sites for the emergence of extraterrestrial life in the solar system on the basis of earlier studies because it is home to a variety of reactive and sometimes complex organic compounds as well as hydrothermal activity on the seafloor driven by tidal dissipation. Phosphorus was the missing piece of the puzzle in finally being able to deem Enceladus’ ocean a habitable environment. Life, however, has not yet been found on Enceladus with the limited capabilities of the Cassini spacecraft launched in 1997. The search will continue with future missions.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : SciTechDaily – https://scitechdaily.com/saturns-icy-moon-enceladus-study-proves-existence-of-key-element-for-life-in-the-outer-solar-system/

Tags: EnceladusSaturn'sscience
Previous Post

Illuminating Neural Pathways: A New Technique for Brain Imaging

Next Post

UFC Vegas 76 results, Strickland vs Magomedov

A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

July 18, 2025
Dave Portnoy unites FOX Sports and Barstool with new football, basketball coverage deal – Fox News

Dave Portnoy unites FOX Sports and Barstool with new football, basketball coverage deal – Fox News

July 18, 2025
To see and not be seen: Carangids hide behind sharks to prey on fish – Cattano – 2025 – Ecology – ESA Journals

Mastering the Art of Stealth: How Carangids Turn Sharks into Living Shields to Outsmart Their Prey

July 18, 2025
Science labs move ‘a hammer blow’, says MP – Yahoo

Science labs move ‘a hammer blow’, says MP – Yahoo

July 18, 2025
American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history – Big Think

America’s Science Community Confronts Its Biggest Brain Drain in History

July 18, 2025
Longhorns Daily News: Austin’s fast-paced lifestyle helped inspire former Texas WR Brenen Thompson to transfer to new school – Burnt Orange Nation

Longhorns Daily News: Austin’s fast-paced lifestyle helped inspire former Texas WR Brenen Thompson to transfer to new school – Burnt Orange Nation

July 18, 2025
China’s path to world dominance is being laid by President Trump’s policies, including in Alaska – Alaska Beacon

China’s path to world dominance is being laid by President Trump’s policies, including in Alaska – Alaska Beacon

July 18, 2025
Wall Street’s Big 7 Are Now Bigger Than China’s Entire Economy – MSN

Wall Street’s 7 Biggest Titans Now Outpace the Entire Chinese Economy

July 18, 2025
Bad Bunny, Travis Scott, Saweetie, and All the Songs You Need to Know This Week – Yahoo

Bad Bunny, Travis Scott, Saweetie, and This Week’s Must-Listen Hits

July 18, 2025
‘I just couldn’t stop crying’: How prison affects Black men’s mental health long after they’ve been released – The Conversation

I Just Couldn’t Stop Crying’: The Deep and Lasting Impact of Prison on Black Men’s Mental Health

July 18, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (727)
  • Economy (750)
  • Entertainment (21,635)
  • General (15,970)
  • Health (9,788)
  • Lifestyle (758)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (752)
  • Politics (760)
  • Science (15,967)
  • Sports (21,248)
  • Technology (15,733)
  • World (734)

Recent News

A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

A major AI training data set contains millions of examples of personal data – MIT Technology Review

July 18, 2025
Dave Portnoy unites FOX Sports and Barstool with new football, basketball coverage deal – Fox News

Dave Portnoy unites FOX Sports and Barstool with new football, basketball coverage deal – Fox News

July 18, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version