5 de março de 2012

Dione - A Moon Full of Light Oxygen, Right Near Saturn


 This view highlights tectonic faults and craters on Saturn's moon, Dione, an icy world that has undoubtedly experienced geologic activity since its formation. 
Credit : Based on images taken from Cassini's spacecraft, taken on Dec. 24, 2005.

An Oxygen atmosphere was discovered far away, on the ringed planet's Saturn icy moon Dione.

But this will not be human's last escape once Dione's atmosphere is unbreathable with its 5 trillion times less dense air than we are used to at Earth's surface, scientists say.
Althought breathing would be impossible for humans,

Dione's atmosphere was detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which spotted an ultra-thin layer of oxygen ions so sparse that it is equivalent to conditions 300 miles (480 kilometers) above Earth.

"We now know that Dione, in addition to Saturn's rings and the moon Rhea, is a source of oxygen molecules. This shows that molecular oxygen is actually common in the Saturn system and reinforces that it can come from a process that doesn't involve life." scientists said last Friday.    from here

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