Icy moons with boiling oceans could harbor life: Study
Scientists just found out that some small icy moons, like Enceladus and Miranda, might have boiling oceans hidden under their thin ice shells.
Even with all that boiling near the surface, deeper parts of these oceans could still be calm enough for life to exist.
This shakes up what we thought about where life might survive in space.
Boiling water under the ice? Yep.
When heat thins out a moon's icy shell, it drops the pressure below—making water boil at freezing temperatures (around 0°C).
This bubbling action can create weird surface features and even trap gasses in ice structures called clathrates.
Why this matters for finding life
Unlike bigger moons that crack from pressure changes, these smaller ones just let their oceans bubble quietly without splitting open.
The study's authors think this means we shouldn't rule out "boiling" worlds when searching for alien life.