Saturn's Enceladus Looks Younger than Ever | The Institute for Creation Research

Saturn's Enceladus Looks Younger than Ever

The more we learn about Enceladus, the younger it looks. Stated another way, the more that our space probes discover about this fascinating little moon that inhabits Saturn's tenuous E ring, the more challenging it becomes for conventional origins to explain. A new discovery adds to the list of young-looking Enceladus features.

The most stunning feature of Saturn's sixth largest moon is undoubtedly its water-ice plumes. The Cassini spacecraft passed by Enceladus several times in 2005 and captured amazing images of these continuous jets. They discharge material and send about a dozen plumes tens of miles into space from the moon's south pole.1 Enceladus, which would span the breadth of Arizona if it were placed on Earth, simply does not have enough material in it to supply these plumes for 4.5 billion years—it's physically impossible. A NASA article written in 2008 revealed no new answers, saying, "What causes and controls the jets is a mystery."2

Then in 2014, Cassini took an even closer look. It found that instead of a dozen plumes, Enceladus has 101 of them. Researchers deduced from these clues that the plume's water ice comes from hot water found below the moon's frozen surface. Not only do Enceladus' jets keep ejecting watery material, but they continually release internal pressure. Clearly, this moon could not have been powering these hot plumes for billions of years.3 The math doesn't work.

Meanwhile, Cassini measured Enceladus' heat output, published in 2011. After billions of years it should have lost its heat. Yet, secular researchers found it emits over ten times the expected heat.4 So, Enceladus loses water, water pressure, and heat. No good explanation yet fits these observations into evolutionary time.

New research published in the journal Nature reveals its plumes of mostly water-ice also eject silica.5 "Silica" is short for silicon dioxide, an abundant compound in our solar system. Scientists know that silica grains— the size found in Enceladus' plumes—also form in certain hydrothermal vents on Earth. The Nature authors reconstructed the conditions under which this silica likely form, which the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory News said is "when slightly alkaline and salty water that is super-saturated with silica undergoes a big drop in temperature."6 Where did all the silica come from that saturates this moon's subsurface sea and keeps jetting into space?

New measurements also show the moon's south-pole plumes contain methane. Could Enceladus also have supplied this methane for billions of years?

Scientists publishing in Geophysical Research Letters modeled the conditions required for ice crystals to trap molecules like methane, finding that this moon could very well meet those conditions.7 "Their models indicate that this process is so efficient at depleting the ocean of methane that the researchers still needed an explanation for its abundance in the plume," according to NASA.6

They suggested that hot, flowing water at depth supplies methane to the plumes. But even a moon-sized methane fountain cannot run forever.

One way to explain how all this methane, silica, heat, water pressure and water persists in Enceladus is simply that God created Enceladus only thousands of years ago. Maybe it hasn't been hanging around Saturn long enough to have lost its original supplies. Recent creation thus solves all the mysteries that Enceladus' remarkably youthful features pose for its assigned billions of years.

References

  1. Coppedge, D. 2006. Enceladus: A Cold, Youthful Moon. Acts & Facts. 35 (11).
  2. Enceladus Jets—Are They Wet or Just Wild? Cassini Equinox Mission News. Posted on saturn.jpl.nasa.gov November 26, 2008, accessed March 12, 2015.
  3. Thomas, B. Solar System Geysers—Each a Fountain of Youth. Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org August 8, 2014, accessed March 12, 2015.
  4. Heat of Saturn Moon Far Surpasses Long-age Expectations. Creation Science Update. Posted on icr.org March 21, 2011, accessed March 12, 2015.
  5. Hsu, H-W. et al. 2015. Ongoing hydrothermal activities within Enceladus. Nature. 519 (7542): 207-210.
  6. Spacecraft Data Suggest Saturn Moon's Ocean May Harbor Hydrothermal Activity. NASA JPL news. Posted on jpl.nasa.gov March 11, 2015, accessed March 11, 2015.
  7. Bouquet, A., et al. Possible Evidence for a Methane Source in Enceladus' Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters. 42 (5): 1334-1339.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Adapted for use in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holders.

*Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on April 9, 2015.

The Latest
CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Struck: Risking It All for the Truth | Creation.Live Podcast:...
In this unique episode, host Trey talks with three key people involved in creating Struck—an upcoming miniseries that shows the special ties between...

NEWS
Giant Ants Buried in Receding Flood Rocks
Evolutionary scientists are baffled by a large ant fossil found in British Columbia, Canada. Known as Titanomyrma, this same ant had been found previously...

CREATION PODCAST
Why Do Animals Hibernate? | The Creation Podcast: Episode 45
The word hibernation is often used in reference to deep sleep, but what is it really? What kinds of creatures hibernate? How does this demonstrate the...

NEWS
Thalattosuchians—Extinct Crocodile Relatives?
The Thalattosuchia are an extinct group of marine crocodylomorphs (a group that includes the crocodiles) that allegedly transitioned from land to water...

NEWS
The Star-Nosed Mole
The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a fascinating semi-aquatic mammal found in eastern Canada and the United States. Moles (placental mammals)...

NEWS
The Hexagon: An Indication of Order and Design in Nature
In nature, noncoincidental patterns and geometry exist everywhere. But the number six appears to overshadow nature’s mathematical landscape. Whether...

NEWS
Neanderthal Crab Bake
The evolutionary science community said it perfectly in their headlines: “Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin'...

CREATION PODCAST
Is There Any Truth to Dragon Legends? | The Creation Podcast:...
Dragons are considered by many to be made-up creatures in fairytales and legends, but our ancestors produced many descriptions and depictions of "dragons,"...

NEWS
Our Sun, Finely Tuned for Life on Earth
Aside from appreciating the splendor of the sun during a beautiful sunrise or sunset, many rarely consider how special, necessary, and finely tuned...

NEWS
March 2023 ICR Wallpaper
"Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God, Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who...