Ensay or exists life? No one knows, but scientists have now discovered new evidence of the existence of key components of life on this planet. According to research conducted by researchers such as Researcher Hao Jihua from the School of Earth and Space Sciences of the University of Science and Technology of China and other scholars in collaboration with researchers Christopher Glein from the Southwest United States, scientists found that Enceladus' water bodies are rich in dissolved phosphate, which can support the origin and prosperity of potential alien microorganisms. This discovery reveals for the first time that there is a relatively high concentration of the key nutrient phosphorus in the sub-glacial ocean of Enceladus. Related research was published in "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA".
Before, scientists have discovered that the planet Enceladus has carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur among the six basic components of life, but phosphorus has not been found yet. For life on Earth, phosphorus is a very important substance and is indispensable for DNA, biofilms, bones, etc., which constitute organisms. Since phosphorus has not been discovered in Enceladus before, many scientists believe that Enceladus may not be suitable for life. Now our scientists have discovered that Enceladus is rich in phosphorus, which can be said to fill the gap in Enceladus' livability research and provides some scientific reference for us to detect the possible existence of Enceladus in the future.
Enceladus
Enceladus was discovered by humans as early as 1789. Because of its relatively long distance from the earth, even though humans have discovered this planet for more than 200 years, we know very little about this planet. We only know that the surface temperature of this planet is very low and covered by thick ice caps. It was not until the 1980s that the Traveler Series probe came to the vicinity of Saturn and that we had the opportunity to observe Saturn and these satellites at close range. Because the surface of this planet is covered with thick ice caps, it can reflect almost 100% of the sun's light, it is the brightest satellite in the solar system. It is precisely because Enceladus has almost completely reflected the sun's light back that the temperature on the surface of this planet is extremely low, with the temperature at night as low as -198℃. In contrast, the lowest temperature on the moon's surface is about -180℃.
Such a cold planet is a frozen world, everything on the surface will be frozen, and logically speaking, there should be no possibility of life. However, scientists have discovered that although the temperature on the surface of this planet is extremely low, there is a huge liquid ocean under the thick ice cap of this planet. When the Cassini probe flew around Enceladus, the probe found that some geysers-like eruptions appeared on the surface of this cold alien world. For this discovery, scientists believe that there may be a large amount of liquid water inside the planet. There is some thin ice covering the surface of these liquid water. When cracks appear in these thin ice layers, the liquid water under the ice layer will gush out, forming a scene of water vapor erupting. Because the temperature on the surface is very low, the erupted water vapor will quickly condense into some ice chips.
There are liquid water and liquid oceans under the ice cap of the alien world with such a low surface temperature? This seems incredible, but researchers say that if there is a heat source inside such a planet, liquid water will form inside. The scientists' view proved to be correct, because when the Cassini probe observed Enceladus, it found that the planet had as many as , 101 geys, and there was a special heating mechanism inside the planet. The heat generated heat heated the ice layer and melted the ice layer into liquid water.
Enzo or Life
Now there is more and more evidence that Enceladus is habitable and is one of the most likely planets in the solar system. The Cassini probe once traveled through the plume of frosted material ejected from the cracks on the surface of Enceladus. In this process, the detector collected a lot of methane . On our planet methane is a substance related to life, so scientists believe that methane from Enceladus may also be a product of some potential microorganisms.
Judging from the exploration of scientists, Enceladus has basically met the conditions to nurture life, and humans may not be alone. However, whether there is life on this planet needs to continue exploring to find the answer.
