A recent study published in Nature Astronomy reports the presence of both familiar and new molecules in ice grains collected just 13 miles above Enceladus. The findings mark the first observation of such diverse organics in fresh samples from the moon's plume. The research highlights a potential link between detected organics and chemical activity crucial to biological processes on Earth.
Lead author Nozair Khawaja of Freie Universitat Berlin stated, "Previously, we detected organics in ice grains that were years old and potentially altered by the intense radiation environment surrounding them. These new organic compounds were just minutes old, found in ice that was fresh from the ocean below Enceladus' surface." The study focused on particles collected by Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyzer during a rapid flyby, enabling analysis of material originating closest to the ocean source.
Coauthor Frank Postberg explained, "These molecules we found in the freshly ejected material prove that the complex organic molecules Cassini detected in Saturn's E ring are not just a product of long exposure to space, but are readily available in Enceladus' ocean."
The instrument's high-velocity collisions vaporized the ice grains, allowing mass spectrometry to reveal molecules from the aliphatic, cyclic ester and ether families, as well as double-bonded structures. In conjunction with confirmed nitrogen-, oxygen- and aromatic compounds, these results provide a pathway for chemical reactions that could produce more complex chemistry relevant to astrobiology.
Cassini completed its flyby and continued exploring Saturn for another decade before the mission's conclusion.
Research Report:Detection of organic compounds in freshly ejected ice grains from Enceladus's ocean
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