Friday, March 10, 2006

Water signs on Saturn moon raises possibility of extra-terrestrial saloons.


LEFT: Marvin the Martian wonders if he should buy another round.


Whiskey and water, anyone?

I prefer mine straight, but these hard-drinking scientists seem to be genuinely excited.

The potential discovery of water on one of Saturn's moons would add a new environment in the solar system where life could exist, according to scientists.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft made the surprising find on Enceladus during its mission around Saturn and the ringed planet's natural satellites.

The probe may have found evidence of liquid water that erupts like geysers from Yellowstone park in the western United States, NASA said Thursday.
"The rare occurrence of liquid water so near the surface raises many new questions about the mysterious moon," NASA said.

"We realize that this is a radical conclusion -- that we may have evidence for liquid water within a body so small and so cold," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

"However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms," Porco said.

The discovery should make Enceladus a research priority along with Saturn's largest moon, Titan, where the European Space Agency's Huygens probe landed in January 2005, scientists said. (Thanks to Breitbart.com and Drudge for the heads up.)

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