Astronomers now think that this moon possesses all the elements required for life, following the discovery of water plumes shooting thousands of kilometers high from its surface by the James Webb Space Telescope a few days ago.
This is Enceladus, the moon of Saturn.
Phosphorus is a crucial chemical element for numerous biological processes that have recently been found by scientists.
The element is probably prevalent in the small moon’s subterranean ocean because it has been found in the frozen grains that it emits.
A multinational team of scientists led by Germany has published their findings in the journal Nature. The scientists found that the phosphorous is bound inside salt-rich ice grains that are expelled into space from Enceladus.
ASSEMBLIES OF LIFE
Based on information that the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn and its moons, sent back, the finding was made. From 2004 to 2017, the probe examined the planet’s rings and moons during its historic 13-year exploration of the gaseous giant.
When Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer instrument sampled frozen particles from Enceladus in Saturn’s E ring, the team analyzed the data that the instrument collected.
Previous research by the researchers had established that the ice grains on Enceladus are home to a wide variety of complex organic molecules and minerals, including the building blocks of amino acids, which are linked to life as we know it.
Chemicals containing carbonate, sodium, potassium, and chlorine were found in high concentrations in the ice grains of Enceladus in earlier studies.
The ocean on Enceladus is abundant in a wide range of organic molecules, as we have previously discovered.” This latest finding, however, makes it evident that the small moon’s plume contains significant levels of phosphorous salts inside the frozen particles that are released into space. According to a statement by planetary scientist Frank Postberg, who oversaw the research, “it’s the first time this crucial element has been found in an ocean beyond Earth.”
PHOSPHORUS: WHAT MAKES IT SO IMPORTANT?
That leaves phosphorus out of the equation for now. Phosphorus is the least prevalent of the six chemical elements that are thought to be essential to all living things: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur.
It plays an essential role in cell membranes and energy-carrying molecules found in all Earthly life forms. It is also essential to the construction of DNA.
“The primary author of the study noted that this crucial component has never been found in an ocean located outside of Earth before.”
Co-authors of the study from Europe and Japan included geochemical modeling in their work, which is noteworthy in light of the most recent Enceladus discovery. Their modeling revealed bonded water-soluble forms of phosphate compounds containing phosphorus at concentrations at least 100 times those of Earth’s oceans.
Enceladus, which is around one-seventh the size of Earth’s moon and the sixth largest of Saturn’s 146 known natural satellites, is now a top contender in the hunt for locations in our solar system beyond Earth that are livable, even if only to microorganisms, thanks to Cassini’s discovery of its internal ocean.
However, experts emphasized that the existence of phosphorus, intricate chemical compounds, water, and other essential components of life are merely signs that a location like Enceladus may be habitable—not proof that it is inhabited.
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