High starting temperatures may have helped to form geysers on Saturn's Enceladus satellite

A hot start billions of years ago may have provided propellant power to spray water on Saturn's Enceladus satellite.

Dr. Dennis Matson, scientist of Cassini probe program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena State of California, said: 'Deep in Enceladus' earth, our model showed that we have an organic compound, a source of heat and water, which are essential components of life. And while no one dares to claim that we have found life in any form, we may have found evidence for a place that may be very suitable for life. '

Since Cassini ships the first photos of Enceladus's snowy white surface, scientists have begun to think that Enceladus has unusual things happening in the crust of the satellite . Cameras on Cassini seem to have confirmed this suspicion in 2005 when they captured geysers on Enceladus spewing out steam and ice crystals in its southernmost region. The challenge for the researchers is to explain how this small ice ball can produce enough heat for these eruptions.

The new model shows that the rapid decay of radioactive elements as soon as they are formed may have triggered the long-term heating mechanism of the satellite that still exists today. The model provided more evidence to support recent relevant findings. These new findings indicate that ice clouds on Enceladus contain molecules that need higher temperatures than normal to form them.

Enceladus' cold nozzles sprayed particles into its southernmost space.(Photo: Nasa)

Tien Julie Castillo, who developed this new model at JPL, said: ' Enceladus is a small-sized satellite and it is made of ice and ice. The puzzling thing is how it has a warm core. The only way to achieve such high temperatures on Enceladus is through the rapid decay of some radioactive elements. '

The high starting temperature model shows that Enceladus began as a ball of ice and ice mixed with fast decaying radioisotopes of aluminum and iron atoms. The breakdown of these isotopes takes place over 7 million years, producing a huge amount of heat. The result of this is that the rock material is hardened at its core and it is surrounded by an ice cover. According to this hypothesis, the rest of the radioactive decay slowly at the core along with the tidal force from Saturn's gravitational pull could continue to warm and melt its inner core for billions of years. .

Scientists have also found a suitable model in explaining how Enceladus created chemicals in the steam stream measured by Cassini's mass spectrometer. Matson is the lead author of the new research program on the components of steam flow. This paper will be published in the April issue of the journal Icarus. Although these pillars are primarily steam-based, the mass spectrometer has also detected a small amount of gases such as nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, propane and acetylene.

Scientists are particularly surprised by the presence of nitrogen because they think it is not one of the elements that make up Enceladus. Therefore, Matson's team proposed that it is just a product of the decomposition of ammonia deep inside Enceladus where its core meets water.

Decomposition of ammonia requires a temperature of up to 577 ^° C (equivalent to 1070 degrees F) depending on the presence of the catalyst such as clay. And while long-time radioactive decay and tidal forces cannot produce such high temperatures on their own, but with a high starting temperature model, these elements can.

Such extremely hot conditions are also the appropriate environment to create hydrocarbon chains, a major component of life, that Cassini has detected in small numbers in the water columns on Enceladus. Until now the team could confirm that all of their findings and the high starting temperature model showed that a rich organic compound mixture was produced below the surface of Enceladus and had This mixed body still exists until this day. This makes this satellite an ideal kitchen to make original soup.

To gather more information about the chemical composition of Enceladus, the team plans to directly measure the gases emitted from the sprinklers during the journey conducted in March 2008.

The Cassini program is a collaboration product between NASA, the European space agency and the Italian space agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is part of the California Institute of Technology located in Pasadena City, which is responsible for helping NASA's Scientific Mission Management Board manage the Cassini program. Cassini was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

Details of the Cassini program are available on the website:http://www.nasa.gov/cassiniandhttp://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

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