Water Elsewhere in Solar System Fuels Speculation About Existence of Life

Europe’s Infrared Space Observatory has discovered water in many unexpected places--including a moon of Saturn--raising expectations of life elsewhere in the universe, the European Space Agency said Tuesday. The discovery of water vapor in the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, may indicate that conditions there duplicate those that gave birth to life on Earth, said Roger Bonnet, the agency’s director of science.

Previous findings indicated that water existed elsewhere in the far reaches of the solar system. Most recently, scientists have found evidence of a possible ocean beneath the surface of Europa, a moon of Jupiter, as well as water beneath the surface of the moon.

Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II