Does Saturn’s moon Titan have a subsurface global ocean where life as we know it could exist? This is what a recent study published in Nature hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated whether Titan is housing an interior subsurface ocean, which scientists have long hypothesized based on data provided by NASA’s now-retired Cassini spacecraft. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the interiors of planetary bodies and whether they could support life as we know it.
For the study, the researchers re-analyzed Cassini data regarding Titan’s tidal interaction with Saturn, as the two tug and pull on each other like the Earth and the Moon. Past studies using this same data concluded with the possibility of Titan possessing an interior subsurface liquid water ocean like Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa. However, using new data analysis methods, the researchers for this study found that Titan likely does not possess an interior subsurface liquid water ocean, meaning that the only liquids on Titan are surface methane and ethane. Instead, the researchers concluded that a slushy subsurface is responsible for the tidal waves analyzed.
“Instead of an open ocean like we have here on Earth, we’re probably looking at something more like Arctic sea ice or aquifers, which has implications for what type of life we might find, but also the availability of nutrients, energy and so on,” said Dr. Baptiste Journaux, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington and a co-author on the study.
While Cassini “retired” in 2017 after engineers intentionally burned it up in Saturn’s atmosphere, scientists continue to analyze data about Saturn and its many moons, with Titan being one of the most intriguing astrobiology targets in the solar system.
Composite infrared images of Titan. Infrared images are needed to view Titan's surface due to the moon's thick and hazy atmosphere, which can't be penetrated by standard cameras. (Credit: NASA)
What new insight into Titan’s interior and prospects for life will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Nature, EurekAlert!