New Mineral Made on Earth Could Potentially Live on Saturn's Moon
A mineral made in a lab may grant some insight into what it's like on one of Saturn's moons.Reported by National Geographic, experiments which create miniature alien environments are carried out at the Astrobiology and Oceans World Group and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.Scientists have found that mixing acetylene and butane in unusual conditions creates an unknown mineral yet to be found in nature. In an ACS journal, the scientist further explain that while Earth doesn't seem to be able to create this co-crystal, it could very well be common on Saturn's moon, Titan.Aceteylene and Butane were chosen as they are both thought to be common on the surface of Titan. Both needed to be frozen to mimic Titan's conditions and they formed surprisingly stable crystals which remained solid even when confronted with a simulation of Titan's ethane rain.Morgan Cable a scientist who's responsible for concocting these miniature alien environments said “We can, in a way, touch Titan here in the lab—even though it’s millions of miles away.”Titan is a particularly interesting environment to study as it has a complex environment including lakes and seas and may even support life, though it would likely be incredibly different to Earth's due to the different chemical compounds.Saturn isn't the only gas giant in our solar system with interesting moons. NASA is considering using a tunneling probe to look for life on Jupiter's own Europa.There are plenty of other potential life-giving space mysteries like the curious underground lake on Mars, signs of water inside an asteroid, and a huge weird blob inside the moon.If you're looking to keep your science fiction routed firmly on the fiction side of things, check out the best sci-fi movies you can watch on Netflix.