Scientists have abandoned hope of finding lifeor any indications that it once existedon the earth's own desolate moon. But what are the chances of uncovering any signs of life on more distant moons? Focusing their telescopes on satellites of Saturn and Jupiter, astronomers have now discovered evidence that in at least one case suggests that primitive life may indeed exist elsewhere in the solar system.
That possibility was suggested in a recent study of Titan, the largest of Saturn's ten moons, by a team of Cornell University scientists under Astronomer-Exobiologist Carl Sagan. From infra-red and other telescopic measurements of the satellite, a...