That would end up being f-d up beyond anything I cuold imagine-
No, there isn’t life on any PLANETS aside from Earth in the Solar System... but the RINGS...
Imagine finding bacteria cultures on a dwarf-moon? Chunks of asteroids...
(And no, I’m not smoking anything)
The O2 is there according to the article.
By making close flybys of the ring system, Cassini has been able to determine that the atmosphere around the rings is composed principally of molecular oxygen (O2).
Welcome confirmation
The finding was made by two experiments on Cassini: the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) and Cassini Plasma Science (Caps) instrument.
“The INMS sees the neutral oxygen gas, Caps sees the ionised products of that oxygen and the electrons associated with it. There is an enhancement over the rings,” said Dr Andrew Coates, co-investigator for the Caps instrument, told the BBC News website.
Dr Coates, from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) at University College London, said the atmosphere was very similar to that of Jupiter’s moons Europa and Ganymede.
“As water comes off the rings, the hydrogen is lost from it, leaving the oxygen,” he explained.
Saturn’s rings consist largely of water-ice mixed with smaller amounts of rocky matter. Dr Coates said the ring atmosphere was probably kept in check by gravitational forces and a balance between loss of material from the ring system and a re-supply of material from elsewhere.
Here’s the kicker... the re-supply of material from elsewhere. Who’s delivering the ice for this party?