Organic compounds in Enceladus ice grains
Date: 02 October 2019
Satellite: Cassini-Huygens
Copyright: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This illustration shows the process of light, soluble and reactive organic compounds making their way onto ice grains emitted in plumes from Saturn's moon Enceladus, where they were detected by the Cassini spacecraft. The result indicates that this moon's underground ocean contains the precursors of complex organic compounds like amino acids – the building blocks of life as we know it on Earth.
Last Update: 2 October 2019
