A new ocean has been discovered in the least expected place – teach me about science

Recently, a group of researchers has made an unexpected discovery that has surprised the entire scientific community, as it may provide important clues about issues that are still great unsolved unknowns, such as beyond the Earth. The existence or even the origin of different forms of life. About life on our planet, and today we bring you all the details of this interesting discovery.

Well, it turns out that a group of astronomers have found a new ocean in one of the least expected places in the system, Mimas, the smallest and innermost of Saturn’s main moons, a discovery that has surprised researchers. Granted, it was thought that since it was considered a large piece of ice, it was highly unlikely that there was an ocean hidden in its depths, but apparently this satellite hid a big secret.

The article about this fact was published today in the journal Nature, and, so that you can find everything you need to know about it, today in this article we share with you the most relevant part of this discovery, so, If you are interested in knowing this information, we invite you to continue reading this article.

How did they manage to reveal that Mimas was hiding an ocean?

Apparently, astronomers have been doing various analyzes for a few years of the information collected by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, which explored Saturn and its family of icy moons for 13 years from 2004 to 2017, in order to make them more precious. In this study, one of the issues that attracted the most attention of researchers was a strange rocking movement that this satellite makes while orbiting, something known as “liberation”.

In principle, there were two theories about what could be causing these strange strong rocking movements in Mimas, that inside this satellite there was a solid, rocky and deformed core, something like a flattened soccer ball or that inside it, a A hidden ocean would have been found, something that was considered unlikely until today, as it was not believed that this body could support a mass of fluid of such dimensions.

However, despite this denial and lack of evidence that this icy moon could support an ocean inside, a group of researchers have modeled the motion of Mimas and found that, in fact, this satellite’s liberation is due to Because it has an ocean beneath its frozen layer. “There is no hard interior that would be consistent with the rotation and orbital evolution of Mimas,” said Laney, a researcher on the study. “It’s a relief to finally be able to show that this is the solution.”

According to estimates, this hidden ocean lies 20 to 30 kilometers below the surface of Mimas’ crust, it is believed to contain at least 50% of the satellite’s volume and, in addition, it is a relatively extensive reservoir of water. . Young, since it has been suggested that it appeared between 2 and 25 million years ago.

Finally, if you are wondering how it is possible that this water does not freeze, apparently it is because this large mass of water remains in contact with the satellite’s core, which causes it to heat up due to the resulting friction. allows, which is one of the issues that most attracts the attention of researchers, this is because it is believed that this interaction can generate “interesting chemistry”, an issue that is believed to That it is indispensable for the origin of life on our planet.

For more information about the study, see: Recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon Mimas