CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers have found the best evidence yet of a vast, young ocean beneath the icy exterior of Saturn’s Death Star lookalike mini moon.
The French-led team analyzed changes in Mimas’ orbit and rotation and reported Wednesday that a hidden ocean 12 to 18 miles (20 to 30 kilometers) beneath the frozen crust was more likely than an elongated rocky core. The scientists based their findings on observations by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which observed Saturn and its more than 140 moons for more than a decade before diving through the ringed planet’s atmosphere in 2017 and burning up.
Barely 250 miles (400 kilometers) in diameter, the heavily cratered moon lacks the fractures and geysers — typical signs of subsurface activity — of Saturn’s Enceladus and Jupiter’s Europa.
“Mimas was probably the most unlikely place to look for a global ocean — and liquid water more generally,” co-author Valery Lainey of the Paris Observatory said in an email. “So that looks like a potential habitable world. But nobody knows how much time is needed for life to arise.”
Trump accepts a VP debate but wants it on Fox News. Harris has already said yes to CBS
Rory McIlroy debunks LIV Golf rumors. Greg Norman claims unanimous support during Masters trip
Mayor of North Carolina's capital city won't seek reelection this fall
Coal miners are getting new protections from silica dust linked to black lung disease
‘The Blue Angels,’ filmed for IMAX, puts viewers in the ‘box’ with the elite flying squad
Home values rising in Detroit, especially for Black homeowners, study shows
Son who offered £5,000 on Facebook to anyone would kill his father before punching the 72
Advocates push for full Medicaid expansion as Mississippi legislators enter negotiations
Woman pleads guilty for role in 4 slayings stemming from custody dispute, sentenced to life
Four people killed in a house explosion in southwestern Missouri
The push for school choice in Nebraska is pitting lawmakers against their constituents