A study from researchers at the Royal Observatory of Belgium has get hold that Saturn ’s moon Dione might be one of the growing number of worldly concern in the Solar System we have a go at it to have a subsurface ocean .
The find , release inGeophysical Research Letters , was made using gravity data from the Cassini spacecraft . They found that the data was consistent with a liquid layer underneath the moon ’s icy shell .
The ocean seems to be about 65 kilometers ( 40 miles ) deep , surrounded by the lunar month ’s 100 - kilometer - thick ( 62 - mile - thick ) wintry shell . The gall would float on top like an crisphead lettuce plunge in water , with the ocean also circumvent the moonlight ’s jolting marrow .
The method used to make the determination , watch over the cycle ( libration ) of the lunar month , was similar to how a subsurface ocean was find on another of Saturn ’s moons , Enceladus . This late study also indicates that Enceladus ’ ocean is tight to its surface than thought in places , being just a few kilometers late at the south rod .
“ For Dione , we did a similar gravity - topography analytic thinking as was done for Enceladus in 2014 , but with improved techniques , ” contribute author Mikael Beuthe toldGizmodo . “ Thus that ’s the full evidence we have now for a present - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. sea on Dione . ”
Unlike Enceladus , Dione , which is 1,123 kilometre ( 698 miles ) across , does not look to have geyser of piss shooting from its surface in places . But its broken surface suggests it was once more active , with the sea thought to have survived for the moonlight ’s entire chronicle .
The researcher say that future missions to Saturn ( of which there are none in the works ) could assist support this prediction . At the second , solemnity data from Cassini is not precise enough to say for certain if there is an ocean , but the grounds is pointing in that direction .
If confirmed , Dione would connect a prestigious group of worldly concern that includes Enceladus and Europa that we know to have a subsurface ocean , with more evidence recentlyconfirming the latter . As always , the discovery of an sea also raises the tantalizing prospect of finding life , too .
“ The contact between the ocean and the rocky core is crucial , ” said study co - author Attilio Rivoldini in astatement . “ Rock - water interactions leave primal nutrients and a rootage of energy , both being essential ingredients for life . ”
Add one to the tally of ocean world . Our Solar System continues to surprise us , in the most strange of places .
