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Saturn moon may have water
By John Kelly, Florida Today

CAPE CANAVERAL A spacecraft orbiting Saturn may have made a stunning, textbook-altering discovery: liquid water spewing from the surface of one of the planet's frigid moons.

The geysers could be super-cold versions of Earth phenomena such as Yellowstone's Old Faithful.

The Cassini spacecraft, launched from Cape Canaveral in 1997, captured evidence of the geysers during a fly-by of the moon Enceladus late last year.

The team of scientists studying the images and data from the nuclear-powered spaceship speculate in Thursday's edition of the journal Science that the geysers may be liquid water gushing from a sort of subsurface volcano beneath the otherwise frozen moon. (NASA audio: Scientists discuss findings)

Enceladus' surface appears to be made purely of water ice. The presence of liquid water would dramatically change scientists' understanding of what places in our solar system could support life.

"We realize that this is a radical conclusion, that we may have evidence for liquid water within a body so small and so cold," Cassini imaging team leader Carolyn Porco said in a written statement.

"However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms," said Porco, of the Space Science Institute in Colorado.

Until now, scientists had proof such activity took place in only three places in the solar system: Earth, Jupiter's moon Io and Neptune's moon Triton, according to the Cassini team. (Photo gallery: This week in space)

The science team says the water theory would explain why Cassini measured lots of oxygen atoms in the Saturn system.

"At the time we had no idea where the oxygen was coming from," Cassini scientist Candy Hansen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. "Now we know that Enceladus is spewing out water molecules, which break down into oxygen and hydrogen."

Scientists will get another up-close look at Enceladus in spring 2008, when Cassini whizzes to within 220 miles.

Photos at source.