Hints of life found on Saturn's moon Titan? | The Economic Times

Astronomers believe they have found hints of life on Saturn's moon Titan, which is too cold to support even liquid water on its surface.

Under "New Scientist" were the two possible signatures of life on Titan taken by Cassini spacecraft, but scientists have pointed out that non-biological chemical reactions can also be behind the observations.

Still many people feel that the exotic life forms living in the lakes of liquid methane or ethane that dot the moon's surface, and that such microbes could escape from a life breathing in hydrogen gas and eat organic molecules acetylene, creating methane in the process.

This would result in a lack of acetylene on Titan and a depletion of hydrogen near the lunar surface, where bacteria could live according to the researchers.

Now, measurements from the Cassini confirmed these predictions, suggesting that life may be present.

The infrared spectra of Titan's surface taken with the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on the Cassini showed no signs of acetylene, but ultraviolet sunlight should trigger increasing its production in the lunar dense atmosphere.

Cassini measurements also indicate hydrogen disappears near Titan's surface, according to a survey conducted by Darrell Strobel of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Observations spacecraft Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer and Composite Infrared Spectrometer revealed that hydrogen produced by UV-induced chemical reactions in the atmosphere that flows both up and out into space and down to the surface.

But hydrogen does not accumulate near the surface, suggesting that something can be time consuming it is, according to the results.