Are 'little green men' roaming on moon of Uranus? Scientists make 'bizarre' new find

In a new research, it has been discovered that there may be enough natural resources on the moon of Uranus which may support alien life.

According to scientistsfrom Johns Hopkins and the University of North Dakota, the sophomoric-sounding planet's moon Miranda has sources of water hidden underneath its surface.

The discovery can prove to be a breakthrough in mankind's ongoing search for aliens.

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“To find evidence of an ocean inside a small object like Miranda is incredibly surprising,” explained planetary scientist and researcher Tom Nordheim. The discovery was published inThe Planetary Science Journal.

“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,” he said about the “remarkable” potential.

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The new study has been carried out on the basis of NASA research in which Uranusmoons Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon were investigated for deep, water-filled gorges which can have signs of biological extraterrestrial life.

An ocean on Uranus'moon Miranda?

Researcher Sherry Fieber-Beyer said that the study gives clearer context regarding the formation of the solar system. She added that it can also help them understand how the giant planets' movement led to the creation of moons and asteroids.

With the help of the images clicked by the deep space probe Voyager 2 in 1986, the “Frankenstein-like hodgepodge of grooved terrain” on the southern hemisphere of Miranda was reanalysed to understand if the rugged ground was caused by the tidal forces which interacted with the heat.”

“This research helps us understand what the requirements are for an icy moon to be an ocean world, which is relevant to assessing the habitability of icy outer solar system satellites,” said researcher Caleb Strom.

“We do not know enough about the Uranian satellites to say whether there could be life on them, but understanding what factors would result in them having subsurface oceans is an important step toward addressing that question," he added.

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Scientists discovered that there was probably an ocean below Miranda's icy surface around 100 to 500 million years ago.

According to the researchers, the ocean was formed because of the tidal forces between Miranda's gravity and other moons of the planet.

“That result was a big surprise to the team,” said Strom. “We won’t know for sure that it even has an ocean until we go back and collect more data,” explained Nordheim.

(With inputs from agencies)