answersLogoWhite

0

While we don't have absolute proof there is no life of any kind of Saturn, the assumption is very likely correct (ie. no life) for several reasons. If there is some kind of life, it would have to endure conditions that life from Earth could not possibly survive (including bacteria and fungi, which are particularly hardy.)

1. Saturn is very cold. At 10 times the distance from the Sun that Earth is, Saturn receives 1/100th (square of the distance) as much energy per unit area. Thus, Saturn's atmosphere varies from -100 Degrees C to almost -200 Degrees C. With so little heat, and so little sunlight, life doesn't have much of a chance to form or thrive.

2. Saturn is primarily Hydrogen, Helium, Methane, and Ammonia. Hydrogen is far too reactive for life to survive within it, as the hydrogen would tend to bond much more easily to fragile DNA molecules, tearing them apart. Life requires some kind of DNA in order to reproduce, and it needs to be stable. The next most common element, Helium, doesn't react with anything (it is a Noble Gas).

3. Saturn has wickedly fast winds, measured upwards of 1,800 kilometers per hour. This would create extremely violent conditions which would be utterly destructive to fragile life.

4. The only place warm enough to support life would be thousands of miles deep into the clouds, where pressures are very high. It might be possible for some sort of life to survive in those conditions, except that with the very high winds, vortices would form and shift material upward from the deeper layers and downward through them - dragging anything in those "safe zones" into the extremely hostile environments on either side. This happens so continually and on such a large scale that those "safe zones" would in fact not be safe at all.

5. Finally, the ring system proves the Saturnian system is extremely dynamic, with many moons having already been torn apart and swallowed by the planet. Just like a large meteorite slamming into Earth, life could not survive regular bombardments of ring debris and moons pulled into Saturn's atmosphere by its enormous gravity (75 times that of Earth).

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago

What else can I help you with?