Space boffs reckon an ocean of aliens could be hiding in Uranus.
A new study says extraterrestrials could be living only 1.7billion miles from Earth on the planet’s icy moon of Miranda. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in the US have discovered evidence of a giant deep ocean beneath the surface of the lunar entity, which they say displays signs it could easily be habitable.
Tom Nordheim, co-author of a study into the area, said: “To find evidence of an ocean inside a small object like Miranda is incredibly surprising. It helps build on the story that some of these moons at Uranus may be really interesting – that there may be several ocean worlds around one of the most distant planets in our solar system, which is both exciting and bizarre.”
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Among the 288 moons orbiting the planets in our solar system, the scientists say Miranda “stands out”.
(Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)
It’s down to images captured by the NASA Voyager-2 spacecraft in 1986 that showed the moon’s southern hemisphere was a “Frankenstein”-style mix of grooved terrain. Researchers compared the landscape to the squares on a quilt and suspected it may be the result of tidal forces within the moon.
They suspect the shapes are a sign of a huge ocean under the ice-cold surface of Miranda – which may have formed up to 500 million years ago. The ocean could be as little as 19 miles below the surface and extend for more than 60 miles.
Researchers are now calling for a new mission to Uranus on the back of their suspicions.
Mr Nordhein said about the proposed new alien-hunting mission to the seventh planet from our Sun: “We’re excited by the possibilities and eager to return to study Uranus and its potential ocean moons in depth.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
“We won’t know for sure that it even has an ocean until we go back and collect more data. We’re squeezing the last bit of science we can from Voyager 2’s images.”
Caleb Strom, who led the study, said: “The suggestion of an ocean inside one of the most distant moons in the solar system is remarkable.”
In 2022, a report by the National Academy of Sciences urged NASA to launch a mission to Uranus. The report called the planet one of the “most intriguing bodies in the solar system”, and said studying it would improve our understanding of cosmic ice giants generally.
It comes after eggheads claimed aliens could be hiding on billions of planets. Uranus alone has 27 moons – and scientists believe five of these could be ocean worlds.
Other signs we are not alone is the existence of Ganymede – the largest moon of Jupiter. Scientists say a huge ocean of salt water exists up to 150km beneath its icy crust, which would be 90km deep – 10 times the depth of any ocean on Earth, and likely containing more water than all our terrestrial oceans combined.
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