Saturn's moon might not be hospitable to life after all
A new study shared at a Finland conference this week has made the hunt for life on Saturn's moon Enceladus even trickier.
Scientists now think that the organic molecules in Enceladus's icy plumes might not be signs of a hidden ocean below—turns out, they could actually form right on the surface thanks to radiation from Saturn's magnetic field.
This challenges what we thought we knew about whether Enceladus could support life.
Research challenges previous assumptions about Enceladus's potential for life
Led by Grace Richards from Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics, researchers recreated Enceladus-like conditions in a lab and found that radiation can turn simple chemicals into complex organics—just like those spotted by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
This means future missions will need smarter tools to figure out if these molecules are coming from deep below or just cooked up on the surface.
The takeaway? The search for alien life is still wide open—and maybe even more interesting than before.