For Knowable Magazine, Shannon Hall investigated a new discovery on Saturn’s moon, Mimas: an ocean and spoke to scientist Alyssa Rhoden all about it. Here’s the first question:
What do we know about these hidden oceans?
In many ways, they look like our own — at least in that they’re likely made up of saltwater.
We know that these ocean worlds have icy surfaces from their overall bright appearance, as confirmed by telescopic and spacecraft measurements that detect signatures of water ice. Some ocean moons even have low enough densities that they probably have water ice mixed into the rock in their interiors. With heat, that water ice melts into liquid water, which will erode rock to create saltwater. On Enceladus, saltwater is conveniently spewing out into space.
Anyone wanna move to Saturn?
Filed under: astrophysics oceans outer space planets research water