Big discovery! Study says Enceladus's methane is related to life, and life may be everywhere in the solar system

In the solar system, although only the Earth is currently known to have life, scientists have also identified many potential life planets through years of research, such as Mars, and what is considered to be the most planetary planet with life. Enceladus, where life may exist.

According to reports, recently, researchers from the University of Arizona in the United States, through big data analysis, believe that the methane phenomenon on Europa may be related to life in Enceladus’s ocean, and if in the future It can really be confirmed, which also means that life may exist on other planets in the solar system with subglacial oceans.

In 2004, when NASA's Cassini Huygens probe arrived in the Saturn system, it discovered that the interior of Enceladus was ejecting a large number of salty plumes. This discovery also made Researchers believe that there is a subglacial ocean beneath Enceladus, and there may be hydrothermal vents similar to those on the ocean floor.

Subsequently, research on Enceladus also continued. In the process, many astrobiologists noticed that there was a large amount of methane in the plumes of Enceladus, which could even The content is amazing.

We all know that on Earth, methane in nature is generally related to biological activities. Therefore, scientists speculate that there may be life on Enceladus, and these lives may be similar to The microorganisms responsible for life on Earth.

Researchers at the University of Arizona also started from this point of view to gain further in-depth understanding, and also found a biological methane formation process on Earth similar to the submarine environment of Enceladus.

These all mean that although Enceladus is far away from the sun and has a thick ice shell on the surface, there are microbial growth in the subglacial ocean of Enceladus that are similar to those on the Earth's sea floor. environment.

If in the future, humans have the opportunity to launch a probe to land on Enceladus and enter the sub-ice ocean of Enceladus, we may really find the miracle of life there.

Not only that, if there is a chance to prove it in the future, it also shows that similar life may exist on other subglacial ocean planets: Europa, Ganymede, and even Ceres. The solar system is also a star system where life is ubiquitous. However, the emergence of complex life is more difficult, and only the earth has this honor.

At this stage, it is very possible. Otherwise, NASA's detectors would not be able to search for many years, and many scientists would not be able to conduct research for many years. This means that there have been There are some clues to follow.

The first is Mars. We all know that Mars is a "second home" where humans are very likely to immigrate in the future, and many evidences show that Mars has had a habitable period, not only has it had suitable temperatures , and there is also abundant liquid water, which does not even rule out the existence of life.

Therefore, my country's "Zhurong", NASA's "Perseverance" and other Mars probes also want to reveal the mystery of life on Mars.

In particular, methane also exists in the atmosphere of Mars, which also makes researchers suspect that there may still be living microorganisms on Mars, but they are not visible to the naked eye and require further testing before they can be discovered.

Next is Europa. We all know that Europa is considered one of the planets in the solar system that is most likely to have extraterrestrial life. At the same time, it is also suspected that the subglacial ocean may already have complex Life is born, such as fish creatures.

Europa, like Enceladus, is far away from the sun and has a thick layer of ice on its surface, but there is a warm ocean inside and the geological movements are also very active.

At the same time, Europa also has an ocean world similar to the Earth, such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents and submarine volcanoes. These all mean that Europa may have a very complete underwater world under its ice. Ecosystem is expected to help humans find extraterrestrial life.

Finally, there is Ganymede. Ganymede is the largest satellite in the solar system. And relatively speaking, although Ganymede is a satellite, it is larger than Mercury. If If it were not locked by Jupiter and orbiting Jupiter, Ganymede would be a planet. It can also be seen from here that Ganymede is very special.

It is worth mentioning that in the process of studying Ganymede, astronomers found that Ganymede is very similar to the Earth. It has an atmosphere and oxygen. Of course, this oxygen does not It is not produced by biological photosynthesis, but caused by the melting of the ice on the surface of Ganymede under the irradiation of the sun, resulting in the emergence of gaseous oxygen.

At the same time, there is a subglacial saltwater ocean under the ice of Ganymede, which also makes it one of the most likely planets to have life in the solar system. So, when you It seems that among the above potential life planets, which one is most likely to reveal the answer to extraterrestrial life for mankind?