Cassini 'Tastes' Organic Material at Enceladus 70
Riding with Robots writes "As previously reported, the robotic spacecraft Cassini recently flew through the mysterious geyser plumes at Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. Today, NASA released the preliminary results of the flyby, including some intriguing findings, such as organic materials 20 times denser than expected and relatively high temperatures along the fissures where the geysers emanate. 'These spectacular new data will really help us understand what powers the geysers. The surprisingly high temperatures make it more likely that there's liquid water not far below the surface,' said one mission scientist."
Re:Organic? (Score:5, Informative)
"Compounds containing carbon".
That's all it means, really. Methane is a common one.
Re:Organic? (Score:3, Informative)
Organic chemistry is a specific discipline within chemistry which involves the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation (by synthesis or by other means) of chemical compounds consisting primarily of carbon and hydrogen, which may contain any number of other elements, including nitrogen, oxygen, the halogens as well as phosphorus, silicon and sulfur.
Re:Organic? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Uhh, organic? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What interests me... (Score:4, Informative)
It is too close to Saturn and in too stable an orbit.
Re:Wasn't it a bust? (Score:3, Informative)
Only one instrument had problems. The others worked.
Re:Organic? (Score:2, Informative)
Just to be picky, you don't actually need hydrogen. I reckon most chemists would count hexafluorobenzene as organic. Even with just carbon and oxygen, benzene-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexacarboxylic acid trianhydride (C12O9) would be classed as organic.
A better definition might be, "Contains carbon, does not contain metals (inc. semimetals)", with carbon dioxide and carbonate excluded for historical reasons" :).