Ocean Hidden Inside Saturn's Moon

Space.com ^ | 24 June 2009 | Jeanna Bryner

[steve-b]

Er, you really don’t have any concept of the size of astronomical masses, do you? Billions of years of leakage isn’t all that much for an ice ball the size of Arizona.

[JOAT]

Er, YOU who have lived less than 100 years certainly don't grasp the concept of billions of years any better than anyone else.

Why don't you throw down your creds for your understanding of astronomical masses there 'expert.'

[calex59]

Formed? Tons of ice pellets hit the Earth every second, every day, and probably have since time began. If they pelt the Earth, they pelt every astronomical body in space.

That still doesn't answer the question of where the water the ice pellets consists of came from or how it came into being. Mainly, how.

[KevinDavis]

[onedoug]

I think the Sun is a third generation star. That’s alot of water to have been, uh...sloshing around.

[Vaquero]

See Robert Heinlein's works.
He chose moons, rather than the planets they orbit, as the site of future colonies

Well yeah but he also said "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress”. The problem with colonies on moons around gas giants is the extreme radiation of their parent planets....and of course the cold...

(BTW check out my tagline)

[Kenny Bunk]

in re your tagline....

Because of Heinlein, I am ummm.... embarrassed ... that after the Moon Landing, we never went ahead and built a base, and then went on to Mars, where I fully expected we would have a colony by now.

Every coupla weeks some NASAdweeb announces captive water, oceans, useable atmospheric fractions, organic matter, etc. BFD ... all stuff Heinlein told us back in the early 1950's.

He made it seem as if it were just not THAT big a deal! Speaking of embarrassment, instead of just getting on with it, we have had decades of highly amusing "High School Science Fair" experiments in space, attended by all the hoop-la of trillion-dollar carnival rides. (OK ... I love Hubble and Cassini ... but what about an observatory on a Martian Moon?)

Screw National Health. Let's get our butts up to Mars! Let's mine some asteroids! Let's have some Heinlein-type adventures instead of this NASA stuff ... and before I crap out, please.

[SunkenCiv]

The salty water is likely feeding jets of water-ice that spurt from the moon's south polar region.

Thanks KevinDavis for the ping, and tricky_k_1972 for the topic.

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[wastedyears]

Wouldn’t that mean there’s some kind of reaction going on inside the planet for there to be liquid ice? If so, there could be something else...

[wastedyears]

They won’t do any of that stuff before I crap out, and I have a long time to go.

[UCANSEE2]

That still doesn't answer the question of where the water the ice pellets consists of came from or how it came into being.

I agree. What a wonderful Universe. Every time you find the answer to another question, it brings to light a dozen more questions. Almost as if the Universe is 'infinite'.

[Cvengr]

Reminds me of some theological studies which interpret the Genesis report of the Flood as emanating from waters from within the Earth having formed large geysers, causing the 40 day rain. There were lots of attacks on Scripture claiming such geysers would be physically impossible, but it’s interesting to see how science continues to bear testimony of His work.

[newfreep]

[Quix]

Indeed.

[jwb0581]

What would Saturn look like from the surface of Encledeus?

[jwb0581]

“What would Saturn look like from the surface of Encledeus?”

Does anyone know the answer to this? Just curious.