Methane Detected on Enceladus Could Actually Be a Sign of Life, Study ShowsWhen the Cassini-Huygens probe dove through the salty plumes belching from the interior of Saturn's moon Enceladus, it made an unexpected detection: a collection of compounds that are also associated with hydrothermal vents on Earth's ocean floor.
In particular, the amount of methane in the plumes caught astrobiologists' attention - it seemed peculiarly high. Even so, it remained possible that known geochemical (that is, non-biological) processes could be responsible for the abundance.
That's no longer the case. Scientists have determined that no known process can be pumping out the amount of methane observed spewing from Enceladus. That means it could be an unknown process - or it could be biological in origin.
