Apr 7 1998
From The Space Library
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced that Europe's Infrared Space observatory, which had been orbiting Earth for two and one-half years, had located water in unexpected places. The most intriguing of these was the water vapor detected in the atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. ESA Director of Science Roger M. Bonnet remarked, "the moon may duplicate the conditions that led to the creation of life on Earth ... and the only thing you need is a little heat to heat up Titan, maybe [the] birth of life may be seen." Chairperson of ESA's Astronomy Working Group Reinhard Genzel said that the Observatory had "enabled scientists to see water throughout the universe," and that the water was likely brought "to the icy outer planets by comets." He explained further that comets might have deposited the water on Earth during the early formation of the solar system, when many comets constantly collided with the Earth.
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