Oxygen found on Saturn's moon Rhea

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dryson

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Saturn Moon Rhea's Surprise: Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere

Saturn's Rhea of Light.

Could plant life exist on Rhea even though the temperatures are extreme?

The planet has alot of oxygen and carbon dioxide both of which are necessary for carbon based life forms to exist. Plant's need carbon dioxide in order to create oxygen for a species like humans to breathe and thrive in.

Rhea could be to far away from the Sun in order for the photosynthesis process to occur.

But could the possibilty of plant life still exist on Rhea?

Would a human be able to openly breathe the atmosphere of Rhea?
 
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M1A1

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I think this is awesome, finally proof of oxygen on other worlds.

A spacecraft has tasted oxygen in the atmosphere of another world for the first time while flying low over Saturn's icy moon, Rhea.

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
 
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SpacexULA

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M1A1":3iaqjegv said:
I think this is awesome, finally proof of oxygen on other worlds.

A spacecraft has tasted oxygen in the atmosphere of another world for the first time while flying low over Saturn's icy moon, Rhea.

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

The really interesting part is they found oxygen & C02. C02 in gass form has a short life, so either there is some type of methane action on the planet, or there is life....


Wow
 
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M1A1

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SpacexULA":3i69ji7s said:
M1A1":3i69ji7s said:
I think this is awesome, finally proof of oxygen on other worlds.

A spacecraft has tasted oxygen in the atmosphere of another world for the first time while flying low over Saturn's icy moon, Rhea.

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

The really interesting part is they found oxygen & C02. C02 in gass form has a short life, so either there is some type of methane action on the planet, or there is life....


Wow
We are not alone...
 
3

3488

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Re: Saturn Moon Rhea's Surprise: Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere

Hi Dryson,

Firstly, this is an 'exosphere' not really an atmosphere per se, it is far too tenuous. However it is a fascinating find none the less.

This exosphere is a concentration of Oxygen, I suspect Atomic Oxygen (O) rather than molecular Oxygen (O2) or Ozone (O3) & CO2. However the pressure of this exosphere is lower than a good laboratory vacuum. This oxygen was not from plants, it is from the breakdown of H2O ice (Water ice that makes up the bulk of Rhea).

I expect the oxygen on Rhea is liberated from the ice by irradiation ( I suspect Rhea may also be emitting Hydrogen) & the CO2 may be from outgassing. With Rhea it is not obvious as so far the surface appears to lack geological features other than a few faults. Unlike Dione & Enceladus, which certainly show 'recent' geological activity & in the case of Enceladus is certainly ongoing, Rhea appears to have had nothing happen other than get hit.

Images particularly from Voyager 1 & Cassini show craters upon craters & gravity data suggest an undifferentiated interior. Further work will have to be done to examine the data & see whether or not possible sources on the surface of the large icy moon can be found.

Also it has been suggested that the Uranus moons Titania & Oberon could have exospheres too, as they are both more massive than Rhea & Titania is slightly larger (Oberon is slightly smaller but is denser than Rhea). Unlike Rhea, both Titania & Oberon clearly show signs of having geological activity in the past from Voyager 2 imagery.

Also dryson, the average daytime temperature on Rhea is MINUS 180 Celsius. This exosphere has a density of approx 1 part in 5 trillion of Earth's surface atmospheric density or 0.000000000002 Earth's atmospheric density (I think I got that right 11 zeros followed by the 2)!!!! Basically better than a good laboratory vacuum & is essentially space. Nothing can breathe in that.

Andrew.
 
D

docm

Guest
Very interesting, but....

doesn't this belong in Space Science & Astronomy?
 
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silylene

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docm":3q2sg8oj said:
Very interesting, but....

doesn't this belong in Space Science & Astronomy?
''

Yes, it belongs in SSA.

Rhea's atmosphere is vanishingly thin, much much less than Mars'. O2 forms in trace levels from photodecomposition of sublimed ice. CO2 is a common constituent in atmospheres, for example Venus. It is not an indicator of life.
 
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molecsur

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Do we know what form of Oxygen? Is it a matter of not knowing or of not having any reporters that understand and are willing to tell us? I assume the relevant instrument is a spectroscope and IIRC you cannot tell the difference from emission spectra. But aren't there other instruments that would answer the question?

Atomic oxygen is certainly no indicator of "life as we know it" and at these concentrations, neither are O2 and O3, but that would at least raise more eyebrows.
 
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dryson

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Re: Saturn Moon Rhea's Surprise: Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere

Even so, there is carbon dioxide on Rhea which plants need to make oxygen.
 
O

origin

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Re: Saturn Moon Rhea's Surprise: Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere

dryson":2qyyxo8f said:
Even so, there is carbon dioxide on Rhea which plants need to make oxygen.

Well Andrew, it was a nice try, but Dryson remains impervious to reason....
 
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MeteorWayne

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Re: Saturn Moon Rhea's Surprise: Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere

I'm going to merge this into a thread in Space Science and Astronomy.
 
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bdewoody

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I believe the finding is interesting but not an indicator of life in this instance.
 
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