OK, it's not quite the same thing as finding actual life in outer space. But scientists say the Cassini probe's unexpected discovery of heavy negatively charged ions in the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is nevertheless astonishing.
Negative ions are associated with the creation of more complicated organic molecules which – through processes not entirely well understood – can ultimately lead to actual cells, plankton, woolly mammoths, and most, if not all of the Spice Girls.
On Earth, negative ions are largely formed in the lower ionosphere, through a process that requires oxygen. Thus, finding them in the
Titan's atmosphere of methane and nitrogen comes as a surprise.
The heavy ions lend themselves to connection with carbon, potentially leading to more complex molecules. Here's Andrew Coates, researcher at
University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory and lead author of the paper on the Titan find:
Coates' work builds on work published in Science last May, which described other organic molecules called tholins, smaller than these newly found, also building up off the surface of Titan.
None of these are quite advanced enough to wave at us yet. But give 'em another couple hundred million years or so, and maybe we'll have methane-breathing life forms to chat with.
Organic ‘building blocks’ discovered in Titan’s atmosphere [ESA]
(Image: Titan behind Saturn's rings, as seen by Cassini probe. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)
