NASA’s Juno Orbiter Captures Stunning Images of Jupiter’s Moon Io
On February 3, 2024, NASA’s Juno spacecraft made a second close flyby of Io, the fifth of Jupiter’s moons and the third largest. Like the previous flyby on December 30,…
Enceladus’ Surface May Contain Relatively High Abundances of Pristine Organic Material
Enceladus, the sixth-biggest moon of Saturn, presents a remarkable opportunity in our Solar System for searching for evidence of extraterrestrial life, given its habitable ocean and plume that deposits organic-bearing…
Planetary Researchers Detect Hydrogen Cyanide in Plume of Enceladus
Using data from NASA’s Cassini mission, planetary scientists have detected several compounds of strong importance to the habitability of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, including hydrogen cyanide, acetylene, propylene and ethane.…
Ice Plumes of Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus May Hold Amino Acids, Study Suggests
Enceladus is a prime target in the search for life in the Solar System, identified by NASA as the second-highest priority site for a flagship mission in the next decade.…
Phosphorus, Rare Building Block for Life, Discovered at Enceladus
Phosphorus has not previously been detected in oceans beyond those on Earth and this discovery provides a promising step forward in our understanding of ocean worlds. Saturn’s moon Enceladus with…
Webb Observes Enceladus’ Water Vapor Plume
As Enceladus orbits rapidly around Saturn with a period of only 1.37 Earth days, the ejected water vapor is spread along and around its orbit, forming a large torus around…
Detecting Extraterrestrial Life on Enceladus Could Be Achieved without Landing: Study
Enceladus, the sixth-biggest moon of Saturn, is a top candidate in the search for extraterrestrial life in the Solar System. An artist’s impression of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft flying through plumes…