Scientists Uncover ‘Building Blocks’ of Life on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus After Discovering Complex Organic Molecules
- Scientists Uncover ‘Building Blocks’ of Life on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus After Discovering Complex Organic Molecules
by Chris Ciaccia for Fox News, https://www.thesun.co.uk/
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made the discovery after plunging into Saturn’s atmosphere before ending its mission on Sept. 15, 2017
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SCIENTISTS have found the “building blocks” for life on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, where they have discovered complex organic molecules. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made the discovery after plunging into Saturn’s atmosphere before ending its mission on Sept. 15, 2017.
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The study on the matter, published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Nature
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“It is the first ever detection of complex organics coming from an extraterrestrial water-world,” said Frank Postberg, the lead author of the study, in a statement on the European Space Agency’s website.
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“The data constrain the macromolecular structure of organics detected in the ice grains and suggest the presence of a thin organic-rich film on top of the oceanic water table, where organic nucleation cores generated by the bursting of bubbles allow the probing of Enceladus’ organic inventory in enhanced concentrations,” the study reads.
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Postberg and the rest of the researchers have identified large organic molecule fragments in ice grains that were spewed from geysers on Enceladus. “We found large molecular fragments that show structures typical for very complex organic molecules,” added Nozair Khawaja, who also worked on the study, in the statement.
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