Life's Building Blocks Found on Saturn's Ocean Moon Enceladus | NASA Cassini

Life's Building Blocks Found on Saturn's Ocean Moon Enceladus | NASA Cassini

Enceladus - Jan. 31, 2011

Enceladus - Oct. 28, 2015

Enceladus - Oct. 28, 2015

Enceladus - Nov. 27, 2016

Enceladus - Oct. 4, 2007

Enceladus - Nov. 27, 2016

Enceladus - Nov. 27, 2016

Enceladus - Jan. 18, 2013: Plume visible on Enceladus (false color) 

Using data collected by NASA’s Cassini mission, an international team of scientists has discovered phosphorus—an essential chemical element for life—locked inside salt-rich ice grains ejected into space from Enceladus.

The small moon is known to possess a subsurface ocean, and water from that ocean erupts through cracks in Enceladus' icy crust as geysers at its south pole, creating a plume. The plume then feeds Saturn's E ring (a faint ring outside of the brighter main rings) with icy particles.

During its mission at the gas giant from 2004 to 2017, Cassini flew through the plume and E ring numerous times. Scientists found that Enceladus' ice grains contain a rich array of minerals and organic compounds—including the ingredients for amino acids—associated with life as we know it.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute (SSI)

Image Processing: Kevin Gill

Release Date: June 14, 2023

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