I think this is awesome, finally proof of oxygen on other worlds.
Nasa's Cassini probe scooped oxygen from the thin atmosphere of the planet's moon while passing overhead at an altitude of 97km in March this year.
Until now, wisps of oxygen have only been detected on planets and their moons indirectly, using the Hubble space telescope and other major facilities.
Instruments aboard Cassini revealed an extremely thin oxygen and carbon dioxide atmosphere that is sustained by high-energy particles slamming into the moon's surface and kicking up atoms, molecules and ions.
Astronomers have counted 62 moons orbiting Saturn. At 1500km wide, Rhea is the second largest and is thought to be made almost entirely of ice.
Read More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/ ... -moon-rhea
Even if it was found it really doesn't matter because we couldn't survive there.
Because the temperature on Rhea ranges from -281° F (-174° C) in the sunlight to -364° F (-220° C) in the shade.
And just a hint that Liquid Nitrogen is a cool -320° F 🙂
That is true for now Aero, however in the distant future when our sun begins to swell and becomes a red giant, these icy moons may well serve to be the last temporary refuge of the human race in this solar system as their surface temperatures rise with the increased diameter of the sun. We do have a good few years yet though on the good Earth. 😉
More like several hundred million years, if not billions of years before our sun reaches that stage. Human race will be lucky to make another 1000 yrs the way we are going with the Earths population explosion and lack of food/water for everyone.
Ganymede has an oxygen atmosphere too 🙂
Its a moon of Jupiter, and the largest moon/satelite in the solarsystem.
It also has a magnetosphere which would protect from solar radiation.
I'm of the opinion that colonizing the stars (I don't mean that literally, though that's a funny thought too) is not just important, but necessary, so I love reading about this stuff.
We need some serious advances in propulsion technology before we can even begin to think of that, though.
Seems like every month or so a new planetoid is discovered or confirmed to have oxygen, water, or an atmosphere of some sort. I think that's promising news.
Unless some aliens happen by that are so beyond our technology that they annihilate us just by passing through. Which I'm thinking wouldn't be too far outside the realm of the possible.
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