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By NASA
5 min read
NASA: Life Signs Could Survive Near Surfaces of Enceladus and Europa
Europa, a moon of Jupiter, and Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, have evidence of oceans beneath their ice crusts. A NASA experiment suggests that if these oceans support life, signatures of that life in the form of organic molecules (e.g. amino acids, nucleic acids, etc.) could survive just under the surface ice despite the harsh radiation on these worlds. If robotic landers are sent to these moons to look for life signs, they would not have to dig very deep to find amino acids that have survived being altered or destroyed by radiation.
“Based on our experiments, the ‘safe’ sampling depth for amino acids on Europa is almost 8 inches (around 20 centimeters) at high latitudes of the trailing hemisphere (hemisphere opposite to the direction of Europa’s motion around Jupiter) in the area where the surface hasn’t been disturbed much by meteorite impacts,” said Alexander Pavlov of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, lead author of a paper on the research published July 18 in Astrobiology. “Subsurface sampling is not required for the detection of amino acids on Enceladus – these molecules will survive radiolysis (breakdown by radiation) at any location on the Enceladus surface less than a tenth of an inch (under a few millimeters) from the surface.”
The frigid surfaces of these nearly airless moons are likely uninhabitable due to radiation from both high-speed particles trapped in their host planet’s magnetic fields and powerful events in deep space, such as exploding stars. However, both have oceans under their icy surfaces that are heated by tides from the gravitational pull of the host planet and neighboring moons. These subsurface oceans could harbor life if they have other necessities, such as an energy supply as well as elements and compounds used in biological molecules.
Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice and vapor from many locations along the famed “tiger stripes” near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute The research team used amino acids in radiolysis experiments as possible representatives of biomolecules on icy moons. Amino acids can be created by life or by non-biological chemistry. However, finding certain kinds of amino acids on Europa or Enceladus would be a potential sign of life because they are used by terrestrial life as a component to build proteins. Proteins are essential to life as they are used to make enzymes which speed up or regulate chemical reactions and to make structures. Amino acids and other compounds from subsurface oceans could be brought to the surface by geyser activity or the slow churning motion of the ice crust.
This view of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was captured by JunoCam, the public engagement camera aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29, 2022. The picture is a composite of JunoCam’s second, third, and fourth images taken during the flyby, as seen from the perspective of the fourth image. North is to the left. The images have a resolution of just over 0.5 to 2.5 miles per pixel (1 to 4 kilometers per pixel).
As with our Moon and Earth, one side of Europa always faces Jupiter, and that is the side of Europa visible here. Europa’s surface is crisscrossed by fractures, ridges, and bands, which have erased terrain older than about 90 million years.
Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed the images to enhance the color and contrast.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing: Kevin M. Gill CC BY 3.0 To evaluate the survival of amino acids on these worlds, the team mixed samples of amino acids with ice chilled to about minus 321 Fahrenheit (-196 Celsius) in sealed, airless vials and bombarded them with gamma-rays, a type of high-energy light, at various doses. Since the oceans might host microscopic life, they also tested the survival of amino acids in dead bacteria in ice. Finally, they tested samples of amino acids in ice mixed with silicate dust to consider the potential mixing of material from meteorites or the interior with surface ice.
This image shows experiment samples loaded in the specially designed dewar which will be filled with liquid nitrogen shortly after and placed under gamma radiation. Notice that the flame-sealed test tubes are wrapped in cotton fabric to keep them together because test tubes become buoyant in liquid nitrogen and start floating around in the dewar, interfering with the proper radiation exposure. Candace Davison The experiments provided pivotal data to determine the rates at which amino acids break down, called radiolysis constants. With these, the team used the age of the ice surface and the radiation environment at Europa and Enceladus to calculate the drilling depth and locations where 10 percent of the amino acids would survive radiolytic destruction.
Although experiments to test the survival of amino acids in ice have been done before, this is the first to use lower radiation doses that don’t completely break apart the amino acids, since just altering or degrading them is enough to make it impossible to determine if they are potential signs of life. This is also the first experiment using Europa/Enceladus conditions to evaluate the survival of these compounds in microorganisms and the first to test the survival of amino acids mixed with dust.
The team found that amino acids degraded faster when mixed with dust but slower when coming from microorganisms.
“Slow rates of amino acid destruction in biological samples under Europa and Enceladus-like surface conditions bolster the case for future life-detection measurements by Europa and Enceladus lander missions,” said Pavlov. “Our results indicate that the rates of potential organic biomolecules’ degradation in silica-rich regions on both Europa and Enceladus are higher than in pure ice and, thus, possible future missions to Europa and Enceladus should be cautious in sampling silica-rich locations on both icy moons.”
A potential explanation for why amino acids survived longer in bacteria involves the ways ionizing radiation changes molecules — directly by breaking their chemical bonds or indirectly by creating reactive compounds nearby which then alter or break down the molecule of interest. It’s possible that bacterial cellular material protected amino acids from the reactive compounds produced by the radiation.
The research was supported by NASA under award number 80GSFC21M0002, NASA’s Planetary Science Division Internal Scientist Funding Program through the Fundamental Laboratory Research work package at Goddard, and NASA Astrobiology NfoLD award 80NSSC18K1140.
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Last Updated Jul 18, 2024 Editor wasteigerwald Contact wasteigerwald william.a.steigerwald@nasa.gov Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrobiology Enceladus Europa Goddard Space Flight Center The Search for Life The Solar System Explore More
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By NASA
2 min read
Hubble Examines an Active Galaxy Near the Lion’s Heart
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the elliptical galaxy Messier 105. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Sarazin et al. It might appear featureless and unexciting at first glance, but NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations of this elliptical galaxy — known as Messier 105 — show that the stars near the galaxy’s center are moving very rapidly. Astronomers have concluded that these stars are zooming around a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 200 million Suns! This black hole releases huge amounts of energy as it consumes matter falling into it, making the system an active galactic nucleus that causes the galaxy’s center to shine far brighter than its surroundings.
Hubble also surprised astronomers by revealing a few young stars and clusters in Messier 105, a galaxy thought to be “dead” and incapable of star formation. Astronomers now think that Messier 105 forms roughly one Sun-like star every 10,000 years. Astronomers also spotted star-forming activity in a vast ring of hydrogen gas encircling both Messier 105 and its closest neighbor, the lenticular galaxy NGC 3384.
Discovered in 1781, Messier 105 lies about 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo (The Lion) and is the brightest elliptical galaxy within the Leo I galaxy group.
Text Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
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Last Updated Jun 27, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Elliptical Galaxies Galaxies Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions The Universe Keep Exploring Explore More With Hubble
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By NASA
This image from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows China’s Chang’e 6 lander in the Apollo basin on the far side of the Moon on June 7, 2024. The lander is the bright dot in the center of the image. The image is about 0.4 miles wide (650 meters); lunar north is up.Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) imaged China’s Chang’e 6 sample return spacecraft on the far side of the Moon on June 7. Chang’e 6 landed on June 1, and when LRO passed over the landing site almost a week later, it acquired an image showing the lander on the rim of an eroded, 55-yard-diameter (about 50 meters) crater.
The LRO Camera team computed the landing site coordinates as about 42 degrees south latitude, 206 degrees east longitude, at an elevation of about minus 3.27 miles (minus 5,256 meters).
This before and after animation of LRO images shows the appearance of the Chang’e 6 lander. The increased brightness of the terrain surrounding the lander is due to disturbance from the lander’s engines and is similar to the blast zone seen around other lunar landers. The before image is from March 3, 2022, and the after image is from June 7, 2024.Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University The Chang’e 6 landing site is situated toward the southern edge of the Apollo basin (about 306 miles or 492 km in diameter, centered at 36.1 degrees south latitude, 208.3 degrees east longitude). Basaltic lava erupted south of Chaffee S crater about 3.1 billion years ago and flowed downhill to the west until it encountered a local topographic high, likely related to a fault. Several wrinkle ridges in this region have deformed and raised the mare surface. The landing site sits about halfway between two of these prominent ridges. This basaltic flow also overlaps a slightly older flow (about 3.3 billion years old), visible further west, but the younger flow is distinct because it has higher iron oxide and titanium dioxide abundances.
A regional context map of the Chang’e 6 landing site. Color differences have been enhanced for clarity. The dark area is a basaltic mare deposit; bluer areas of the mare are higher-titanium flows. Contour lines marking 100-meter (about 328 feet) elevation intervals are overlaid to provide a sense of the topography. Image is about 118 miles (190 km) across. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University LRO is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Launched on June 18, 2009, LRO has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the Moon. NASA is returning to the Moon with commercial and international partners to expand human presence in space and bring back new knowledge and opportunities.
More on this story from Arizona State University's LRO Camera website Media Contact:
Nancy N. Jones
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Jun 14, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactNancy N. Jonesnancy.n.jones@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Earth's Moon Goddard Space Flight Center Planetary Science The Solar System Explore More
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA Releases New High-Quality, Near Real-Time Air Quality Data
Artist illustration of the satellite Intelsat 40e. NASA's TEMPO instrument launched into geostationary orbit 22,236 miles above Earth's equator in April 2023 as a payload on the satellite. Credits: Maxar Technologies NASA has made new data available that can provide air pollution observations at unprecedented resolutions – down to the scale of individual neighborhoods. The near real-time data comes from the agency’s TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) instrument, which launched last year to improve life on Earth by revolutionizing the way scientists observe air quality from space. This new data is available from the Atmospheric Science Data Center at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
“TEMPO is one of NASA’s Earth observing instruments making giant leaps to improve life on our home planet,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA and the Biden-Harris Administration are committed to addressing the climate crisis and making climate data more open and available to all. The air we breathe affects everyone, and this new data is revolutionizing the way we track air quality for the benefit of humanity.”
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The TEMPO instrument measured elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from a number of different areas and emission sources throughout the daytime on March 28, 2024. Yellow, red, purple, and black clusters represent increased levels of pollutants from TEMPO’s data and show drift over time. Credit: Trent Schindler/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio The TEMPO mission gathers hourly daytime scans of the atmosphere over North America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Coast, and from Mexico City to central Canada. The instrument detects pollution by observing how sunlight is absorbed and scattered by gases and particles in the troposphere, the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere.
“All the pollutants that TEMPO is measuring cause health issues,” said Hazem Mahmoud, science lead at NASA Langley’s Atmospheric Science Data Center. “We have more than 500 early adopters using these datasets right away. We expect to see epidemiologists and health experts using this data in the near future. Researchers studying the respiratory system and the impact of these pollutants on people’s health will find TEMPO’s measurements invaluable.”
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NO2 levels are elevated along major traffic corridors including I-35 in Texas with the highest levels between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Elevated NO2 levels are shown across cities including Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, with the highest levels persisting across Houston from morning to evening. Credit: Trent Schindler/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio An early adopter program has allowed policymakers and other air quality stakeholders to understand the capabilities and benefits of TEMPO’s measurements. Since October 2023, the TEMPO calibration and validation team has been working to evaluate and improve TEMPO data products.
We have more than 500 early adopters that will be using these datasets right away.
hazem mahmoud
NASA Data Scientist
“Data gathered by TEMPO will play an important role in the scientific analysis of pollution,” said Xiong Liu, senior physicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and principal investigator for the mission. “For example, we will be able to conduct studies of rush hour pollution, linkages of diseases and health issues to acute exposure of air pollution, how air pollution disproportionately impacts underserved communities, the potential for improved air quality alerts, the effects of lightning on ozone, and the movement of pollution from forest fires and volcanoes.”
Measurements by TEMPO include air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and ground-level ozone.
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High NO2 levels associated with prescribed burns are seen popping up across East Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, beginning around 1:00 p.m. and extending into the evening. Elevated NO2 levels are visible in cities from El Paso to Memphis.Credit: Trent Schindler/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio “Poor air quality exacerbates pre-existing health issues, which leads to more hospitalizations,” said Jesse Bell, executive director at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Water, Climate, and Health Program. Bell is an early adopter of TEMPO’s data.
Bell noted that there is a lack of air quality data in rural areas since monitoring stations are often hundreds of miles apart. There is also an observable disparity in air quality from neighborhood to neighborhood.
“Low-income communities, on average, have poorer air quality than more affluent communities,” said Bell. “For example, we’ve conducted studies and found that in Douglas County, which surrounds Omaha, the eastern side of the county has higher rates of pediatric asthma hospitalizations. When we identify what populations are going to the hospital at a higher rate than others, it’s communities of color and people with indicators of poverty. Data gathered by TEMPO is going to be incredibly important because you can get better spatial and temporal resolution of air quality across places like Douglas County.”
Determining sources of air pollution can be difficult as smoke from wildfires or pollutants from industry and traffic congestion drift on winds. The TEMPO instrument will make it easier to trace the origin of some pollutants.
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TEMPO observes the northerly transport of NO2 from the Permian basin, a large oil and natural gas producing area spanning parts of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, with the highest levels measured during the morning over the basin. NO2 plumes from coal-fired power plants are visible in the rural areas far west and northwest of Houston and far east of Dallas between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.Credit: Trent Schindler/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio “The National Park Service is using TEMPO data to gain new insight into emerging air quality issues at parks in southeast New Mexico,” explained National Park Service chemist, Barkley Sive. “Oil and gas emissions from the Permian Basin have affected air quality at Carlsbad Caverns and other parks and their surrounding communities. While pollution control strategies have successfully decreased ozone levels across most of the United States, the data helps us understand degrading air quality in the region.”
The TEMPO instrument was built by BAE Systems, Inc., Space & Mission Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) and flies aboard the Intelsat 40e satellite built by Maxar Technologies. The TEMPO Ground System, including the Instrument Operations Center and the Science Data Processing Center, are operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Organization, part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
Read More To learn more about TEMPO visit: https://nasa.gov/tempo
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Last Updated May 30, 2024 Related Terms
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By USH
The huge anomaly, showed up on Ventusky.com ocean monitoring system, does appear to originate from the Antarctica area deep down in the the southern hemisphere on April 9th the day after the eclipse of 2024 around 2 pm. and on April 11th it suddenly disappears off the map.
This thing which is the size of Texas traveled down here between South America and Antarctica and then up through the the Atlantic Ocean implying that there is a very large field of waves measuring about 80 foot.
Speculation runs rampant regarding the nature of this anomaly. Could it be the aftermath of a meteor impact in the ocean, or perhaps the result of an undocumented seismic event?
Another theory posits the involvement of an Unidentified Submerged Object (USO), a colossal underwater craft. This hypothesis suggests that the anomaly may not be a rogue wave but rather a massive object emitting signals mimicking the characteristics of an 80-foot wave.
Notably, the absence of any tsunami warnings along the trajectory of this peculiar object adds to the mystery.
Once again, the presence of an inexplicable energy form hints at the existence of a large underwater object lurking within the depths of the southern hemisphere of our planet.
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