If you were asked to list down all the celestial bodies in our solar system that contain water, how many could you name? Of course, you would begin with the planet on which we are living right now, Earth and our moon which has water ice. You may have heard of how Mars used to have running water until it dried out and only has ice, but most of us will be able to name more than three.
Surprisingly, the majority of the planets in our solar system are thought to contain water in some form. The gas giants all have large quantities of wet stuff in their interiors and atmospheres. Their rings(and the moons) have considerable amounts of water ice. Even primitive bodies like comets, asteroids and dwarf planets like Ceres contain water. Giant molecular clouds near the stars of the universe have the signature of water according to astronomers.
However, the most interesting finds are the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. They have shown strong evidence of having oceans below their surface. These moons are Jupiter’s Ganymede, Europa and Callisto, and Saturn’s Enceladus and Titan. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered convincing evidence Ganymede has a saltwater subsurface ocean most likely sandwiched between two layers of ice. Europa and Enceladus may have an ocean of liquid water underneath their surface which is said to be in contact with rocks that are mineral-rich. They seem to have the three components for life as we know it: liquid water, chemical elements necessary for biological processes, and energy sources that can be used by living organisms. Enceladus has been revealed to be a world alive with icy geysers. This indicates that it may have hydrothermal activity on its ocean floor which could be an environment potentially suitable for life.
I am sure we have all wondered why life only exists on earth and whether we will find extraterrestrial life or even a planet where we could make a new home. How different would our life be on another planet? Or a moon revolving around a planet? Will we be able to find another home for humanity and other living species? We might just find the answers to all our questions.
Our solar system
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