Unavailable for comment...
Posted on 03/09/2006 7:58:40 AM PST by Vintage1
// NASA is planning to make a huge announcement today, about possible life in our own solar system. Exact details of what we can expect to hear have not been released. We do know that evidence has been found that could point to life relatively close to the earth.... No other information at this time
That's "big boo-tay".
Bugs Bunny dropped a container of dehydrated Martians into Lake Pontchartrain. "Run for the hills folks, or you'll be up to your armpits in Martians."
That would be very alien...
Better behave, the no sense of humor crowd has arrived and declared everyone irrelevent and child-like.
Ohhhhh...c'mon, a thread like this begs for a little levity.
There's not a poster on this thread that will not appreciate any sceintific findings that NASA has to offer.
U could have just posted NASA has discover absolutely no "intelligent" life on this thread! Ha!
Unavailable for comment...
PING...
Beat ya.
Post #96...
Eh. Microscopic life. Big deal.
I'm waiting for the big, BIG announcement... that we are receiving intelligent radio signals from outer space. Now THAT would be earth-shaking news.
I guess the little rovers on Mars found something really interesting.
That's BigbooTAY, not Bigbootie. TAY! TAY! TAY!
NASA's Planned Press Release for Today
NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in Yellowstone-like geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The rare occurrence of liquid water so near the surface raises many new questions about the mysterious moon.
"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, Boulder, Colo. "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."
High-resolution Cassini images show icy jets and towering plumes ejecting huge quantities of particles at high speed. Scientists examined several models to explain the process. They ruled out the idea the particles are produced or blown off the moon's surface by vapor created when warm water ice converts to a gas. Instead, scientists have found evidence for a much more exciting possibility. The jets might be erupting from near-surface pockets of liquid water above 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), like cold versions of the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone.
"We previously knew of at most three places where active volcanism exists: Jupiter's moon Io, Earth, and possibly Neptune's moon Triton. Cassini changed all that, making Enceladus the latest member of this very exclusive club, and one of the most exciting places in the solar system," said John Spencer, Cassini scientist, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder.
-more--2-
"Other moons in the solar system have liquid-water oceans covered by kilometers of icy crust," said Andrew Ingersoll, imaging team member and atmospheric scientist at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. "What's different here is that pockets of liquid water may be no more than tens of meters below the surface."
"As Cassini approached Saturn, we discovered the Saturnian system is filled with oxygen atoms. At the time we had no idea where the oxygen was coming from," said Candy Hansen, Cassini scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena. "Now we know Enceladus is spewing out water molecules, which break down into oxygen and hydrogen."
Scientists still have many questions. Why is Enceladus so active? Are other sites on Enceladus active? Might this activity have been continuous enough over the moon's history for life to have had a chance to take hold in the moon's interior?
In the spring of 2008, scientists will get another chance to look at Enceladus when Cassini flies within 350 kilometers (approximately 220 miles), but much work remains after the spacecraft's four-year prime mission is over.
"There's no question, along with the moon Titan, Enceladus should be a very high priority for us. Saturn has given us two exciting worlds to explore," said Jonathan Lunine, Cassini interdisciplinary scientist, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.
Mission scientists report these and other Enceladus findings in this week's issue of Science.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology
So I noticed.
You clearly have me confused with someone who gives a sh!t...
;^P
You're late to the partTAY...
Great...I left my black hi-top Nikes at home today.
I am betting that they are going to turn over our space missions to Dubai.
Wow, by almost 3 minutes too...I better hit "refresh" next time!
The Men In Black got to them.
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