What is the Source of Water Vapor on Saturn's Moon?

Contrary to popular belief, scientific studies suggest that the source of water vapor on Saturn's moon Enceladus may not be a deep ocean.

In 2005, the Cassini spacecraft found geysers on the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Initially, it was considered that the vapors rising from the ground, like smoke from a chimney, were formed by the melting of ice covering the satellite's surface owing to friction caused by earthquakes.

However, after Cassini confirmed that the gases spewing from the earth contained salts (metal-nonmetallic compounds), the notion that the geysers were created by an ocean deep within the moon gained popularity. The liquid waters on the ground are expected to leave their salts on the ground of the satellite when they evaporate, just as perspiration evaporating from the skin does.

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Dartmouth College's Colin Meyer revealed that their findings show that the source of the geysers on Enceladus may not be the deep ocean, as previously thought.

The researchers initially utilized a computer program they designed to model the physical properties of sea ice on Earth to do basic calculations. As a result, melting sea ice has been discovered to contain large volumes of salt. The same method was employed to recreate circumstances on Encaladus by the researchers. It was revealed this time that jelly-like particles holding saline water may swiftly grow in the ice that covers the satellite's surface. It has been established that these salty liquids can explode into space with the salts in them, similar to how geysers erupt on Earth's surface.

The researchers stress that their findings do not rule out the possibility of an ocean beneath Encaladus's surface. They point out, however, that there is overwhelming evidence that Encaludus harbors an ocean beneath its ice crust.

After Earth, Encaladus' subsurface ocean is regarded as one of the most favorable habitats for life in the solar system. Because this underlying ocean was originally expected to be the source of geysers spewing from the satellite's surface, it was assumed that analyzing the geysers would provide insight into the conditions in the underneath ocean. If Meyer and his buddies' assumptions are right, knowing about Encaladus' underground ocean may not be as simple as one may expect.

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Reference:

• https://www.space.com/12432-saturn-water-rain-enceladus-moon.html#:~:text=Observations%20from%20the%20European%20Space,of%20water%20vapor%20around%20Saturn.