Scientists have found the strongest evidence yet that liquid water lies beneath the icy surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
Researchers studied one of the water ice jets that regularly burst from fractures near the volcanic moon’s south pole.
They discovered ammonia, various organic compounds and deuterium - a “heavy” form of hydrogen that is abundant in the Earth’s oceans.
Ammonia, together with methanol and salts also found in the plume, acts as an antifreeze allowing water to remain liquid at temperatures of almost minus 100C.
The discovery increases the possibility of an ocean on Enceladus beneath a surface crust of ice, or large caverns filled with liquid water.
Saturn’s outermost “E” ring is believed to consist of gas and dust thrown out by the moon’s plumes.
Recently scientists detected salt grains in the “E” ring that could be evidence of a salty ocean. Some experts believe a salty ocean on Enceladus could harbour life.
“Ammonia’s presence in the plume, along with the detection of sodium and potassium salts in E-ring ice particles, implies that the interior of Enceladus may contain some amount of liquid water,” wrote Dr William Lewis, from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonia, Texas, US, and colleagues.
The new research is published today in the journal Nature.