There Is A Whole Ocean Hiding Under The Ice Of A Distant Moon

Beneath a frozen shell far from the Sun, scientists think a vast salty sea is sloshing around.

One of the moons circling a giant planet in our own solar system looks like a cracked marble of ice. But scientists believe that under that frozen crust lies something extraordinary. A deep, dark ocean of liquid water.

Even though this world sits far from the Sun's warmth, the constant squeeze and stretch from its huge parent planet generates heat inside it. That heat is thought to keep an enormous hidden sea from freezing solid.

Why does an ocean on a faraway moon matter so much? Because wherever there is liquid water and a source of energy, there is at least a chance of the ingredients for life. It is one of the most tempting places to go looking.

We have not drilled through that ice or dipped anything into that water yet. But knowing it might be there reshapes how we imagine life in the cosmos. The best hiding spot may not be a planet at all, but a moon.