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Waite JH, Glein CR, Perryman RS, et al. Cassini finds molecular hydrogen in the Enceladus plume: Evidence for hydrothermal processes. Science. 2017;356(6334):155-159doi: 10.1126/science.aai8703.
Waite, J. H., Glein, C. R., Perryman, R. S., Teolis, B. D., Magee, B. A., Miller, G., Grimes, J., Perry, M. E., Miller, K. E., Bouquet, A., Lunine, J. I., Brockwell, T., & Bolton, S. J. (2017). Cassini finds molecular hydrogen in the Enceladus plume: Evidence for hydrothermal processes. Science (New York, N.Y.), 356(6334), 155-159. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aai8703
Waite, J Hunter, et al. "Cassini finds molecular hydrogen in the Enceladus plume: Evidence for hydrothermal processes." Science (New York, N.Y.) vol. 356,6334 (2017): 155-159. doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aai8703
Waite JH, Glein CR, Perryman RS, Teolis BD, Magee BA, Miller G, Grimes J, Perry ME, Miller KE, Bouquet A, Lunine JI, Brockwell T, Bolton SJ. Cassini finds molecular hydrogen in the Enceladus plume: Evidence for hydrothermal processes. Science. 2017 Apr 14;356(6334):155-159. doi: 10.1126/science.aai8703. PMID: 28408597.
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Science. 2017 Apr 14;356(6334):155-159. doi: 10.1126/science.aai8703.

Cassini finds molecular hydrogen in the Enceladus plume: Evidence for hydrothermal processes.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

J Hunter Waite, Christopher R Glein, Rebecca S Perryman, Ben D Teolis, Brian A Magee, Greg Miller, Jacob Grimes, Mark E Perry, Kelly E Miller, Alexis Bouquet, Jonathan I Lunine, Tim Brockwell, Scott J Bolton

Affiliations

  1. Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA. [email protected] [email protected].
  2. Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA.
  3. Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
  4. Department of Astronomy and Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

PMID: 28408597 DOI: 10.1126/science.aai8703

Abstract

Saturn's moon Enceladus has an ice-covered ocean; a plume of material erupts from cracks in the ice. The plume contains chemical signatures of water-rock interaction between the ocean and a rocky core. We used the Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer onboard the Cassini spacecraft to detect molecular hydrogen in the plume. By using the instrument's open-source mode, background processes of hydrogen production in the instrument were minimized and quantified, enabling the identification of a statistically significant signal of hydrogen native to Enceladus. We find that the most plausible source of this hydrogen is ongoing hydrothermal reactions of rock containing reduced minerals and organic materials. The relatively high hydrogen abundance in the plume signals thermodynamic disequilibrium that favors the formation of methane from CO

Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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