Tag: Cassini
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Mimas Likely Hides a Young Ocean Beneath Its Ice
New Findings Reframe Mimas as an Ocean World Candidate Saturn’s small, cratered moon Mimas has long been dismissed as a frozen relic, best known for its prominent Herschel Crater. Yet a growing body of research is challenging that view. Recent thermal and orbital models indicate that a young subsurface ocean could lie beneath 12–19 miles…
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New Complex Organics Detected in Enceladus’ Water Jets via Cassini Data
Scientists Revisit Cassini Data to Uncover Complex Organics in Enceladus’ Jets Enceladus, the icy moon circling Saturn, has long fascinated researchers with its spectacular geysers that eject water vapor and ice from a hidden subsurface ocean. A new study mining archival data from NASA’s Cassini mission reveals a wealth of previously hidden complex organic molecules…
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New Molecules Found in Enceladus Water Jets Using Cassini Data
Breakthrough from Cassini’s Archive: Complex Organics in Enceladus’ Jets Enceladus, the icy moon orbiting Saturn, has long intrigued scientists with its geyser-like plumes. A new study drawing on archival data from NASA’s Cassini mission reveals a surprising abundance of complex organic molecules in the water-ice grains ejected from the moon’s south polar jets. This finding…
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New Organic Molecules Found in Enceladus Water Jets
Enceladus Reveals a Rich Chemical World Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus keeps delivering surprises from beneath its southern ice: recent work based on archival data from NASA’s Cassini mission has identified a suite of complex organic molecules in the water jets that spray from its south pole. The findings bolster the view that Enceladus hosts a…
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Does Saturn’s Moon Mimas Hide a Subsurface Ocean? A New Case for a Young Ocean
Introduction: A developing case for an ocean on Mimas Saturn’s small but storied moon Mimas may be harboring a subsurface ocean beneath a thick icy shell. Recent analyses, built on data from NASA’s Cassini mission and advanced modeling, suggest that the moon’s crust could be thin enough in certain regions to host liquid water not…
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Could Saturn’s Moon Mimas Hide a Newborn Ocean? A Mission in the Making
Is Mimas Hosting a Newborn Ocean? Saturn’s moon Mimas, long famous for its ominous “Death Star” crater Herschel, may be hiding a newborn ocean beneath its icy shell. New analyses of Cassini data, combined with advances in modeling tidal heating, suggest that the moon’s ice shell could have melted recently enough to form a liquid…
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Mimas Ocean: Evidence for a Subsurface Sea in Saturn’s Moon
The Case for a Newborn Ocean on Mimas The idea that Saturn’s moon Mimas might host a subsurface ocean has moved from speculation to a serious scientific hypothesis. Researchers analyzing Cassini data and applying models of ice-shell behavior found that Mimas could possess an ocean buried under 12 to 19 miles (20–30 kilometers) of solid…
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Enceladus Organic Molecules Hint at Life Potential
Enceladus and the Search for Life’s Building Blocks Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus has long fascinated scientists with the possibility that it hosts a subsurface ocean. Even though NASA’s Cassini mission ended in 2017, researchers continue to squeeze new insights from its vast archive. The latest analyses bolster the case that Enceladus isn’t just a cold,…
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Enceladus Organics Hint at Possible Life on Saturn’s Moon
A Hidden Ocean and Organic Clues The icy moon Enceladus keeps revealing surprises about its watery interior. Although the Cassini mission ended in 2017, scientists are still mining its archived data for hidden clues. In 2005, Cassini detected plumes of water vapor shooting from fractures near Enceladus’ south polar region. The prevailing interpretation is that…
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Organic Molecules on Enceladus Hint at Possible Life in Its Subsurface Ocean
New Evidence from a Legacy Mission Decades after NASA’s Cassini spacecraft concluded its Saturn mission in 2017, researchers are still mining the archive for clues about one of the Solar System’s most intriguing bodies: Enceladus, Saturn’s icy moon. A recent, meticulous reanalysis of Cassini data strengthens the case that Enceladus harbors a subsurface ocean capable…