Overview
- A Nature Astronomy study reports multiple complex organic molecules in freshly ejected ice grains from Enceladus’ south‑polar plumes.
- The same organics seen in Saturn’s E ring also appear in new grains, indicating they are produced within the moon’s subsurface ocean rather than by long exposure to space radiation.
- Newly identified fragments include aliphatic and (hetero)cyclic ester/alkenes, ethers/ethyl, and tentative nitrogen‑ and oxygen‑bearing compounds relevant to prebiotic chemistry.
- Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer captured fast‑moving grains in 2008 at about 18 km/s, preventing water clustering and revealing signals that earlier analyses missed.
- Scientists stress the findings support habitability but are not evidence of life, and ESA says the result strengthens ongoing studies for a mission to fly through the jets and land at the south pole to sample material.