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- Saturn’s bizarre moon Titan has carbon-based compounds in its atmosphere that could be a precursor to life.
- Titan’s surface is covered with hydrocarbon lakes that are toxic to life as we know it, but there may be an ocean of liquid water deep beneath the surface.
- Future missions could probe that ocean for life.
Of all the planets and moons in our solar system, Saturn’s moon Titan is certainly one of the strangest. It is a vast world of ice covered with liquid lakes. It is not water, of course, as Titan is too far from the Sun for water to exist in its liquid form. Instead, the titan is coated with cooled hydrocarbons which are, as far as life on Earth is concerned, incredibly toxic.
Now, in new research published on Astronomical Journal, scientists have discovered something incredibly “strange” in Titan’s atmosphere. It is a carbon-based molecule that cannot exist in nature on Earth and has only been observed on our planet in laboratory settings. On Titan, however, it appears to exist naturally, and that could mean exciting things in the pursuit of an afterlife.
We know what it takes for life to exist on Earth. Energy, in the form of sunlight or heat, and water are the great prerequisites. But life on other worlds that are completely different from ours? How should we know? The discovery of the molecules of cyclopropenylidene, or C3H2, is exciting because it could form the basis for life on Titan that we have never seen. It could also be an early precursor to food that could sustain life on the planet.
“Although scientists found C3H2 in pockets across the galaxy, finding it in an atmosphere was a surprise,” says NASA. “This is because cyclopropenylidene can easily react with other molecules it comes into contact with and form different species. Astronomers have so far only found C3H2 in clouds of gas and dust floating between star systems, in other words, regions that are too cold and diffuse to facilitate many chemical reactions. “
Ok, so that’s great. But what are the odds that the molecules floating in Titan’s atmosphere are actually linked to life in any form? It is very difficult to say. Saturn itself has 62 moons, and scientists have observed a few. Titan is the largest and has what could be considered the most interesting chemical composition, and certainly the most feature-rich surface, but life? This is a whole other ball game.
What’s particularly promising about Titan is that it could hide a liquid ocean beneath its frozen surface. If that ocean is filled with liquid water, it may actually be habitable, absurd as it may seem all things considered its hostile and toxic surface.
“We’re trying to figure out if Titan is habitable,” Rosaly Lopes of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. “So we want to know which compounds from the atmosphere make it to the surface, and then, if that material can cross the ice crust to the ocean below, because we think the ocean is where the habitable conditions are.”
Mike Wehner has been reporting on technology and video games for the past decade, covering the latest news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones, and the technology of the future. Most recently, Mike worked as a Tech Editor at The Daily Dot and appeared on USA Today, Time.com, and countless other websites and print media. His love of the news is second only to his addiction to games.
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