在恩塞拉多斯的蒸汽羽毛中没有
Nicholas M Schneider1, Matthew H Burger, Emily L Schaller
1Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. nick.schneider@lasp.colorado.edu
Nature
|June 26, 2009
概括
研究人员从土星的卫星恩塞拉多斯 (Enceladus) 寻找. 检测到的低水平表明,羽毛可能不是来自盐水的海洋,让其他来源是可能的.
科学领域:
- 行星科学 行星科学
- 天体生物学 天体生物学
- 频谱学是一种光谱学.
背景情况:
- 恩塞拉多斯表现出水蒸气和冰颗粒的羽毛,这表明内部有液体来源.
- 据推测,这些羽毛的起源是地下海洋,可能含有盐 (化),作为这些羽毛的起源.
研究的目的:
- 通过使用地面光谱学来调查恩塞拉多斯羽毛中原子的存在和丰富性.
- 评估观察到的含量是否支持或反驳了盐地下海洋为羽提供燃料的假设.
主要方法:
- 在地面进行了针对恩塞拉多的光谱观测.
- 分析了光谱数据以寻找原子的特征.
- 量化了在烟雾蒸汽中的混合比的上限.
主要成果:
- 对恩塞拉多斯的蒸汽羽毛中的混合比率建立了一个上限,远低于对盐海洋的预期.
- 发现层中含盐颗粒的比例很小.
- 低含量挑战了接近地表的海直接通过地裂为热泉提供食物的想法.
结论:
- 观察到的低丰度与浅的海洋在恩塞拉多斯的地中爆发不一致.
- 浮点的其他来源,如深海,淡水库或地下冰,仍然是可信的.
- 目前的数据不足以明确区分恩塞拉多的各种拟议的喷发源假设.
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