http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/apr/03/ocean-enceladus-alien-life-water-saturn-moon

Ocean discovered on Enceladus may be best place to look for alien life

Evidence from Cassini spacecraft suggests a large body of liquid water beneath the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus

Researchers have discovered a deep saltwater ocean on one of the many small moons that orbit Saturn, leading scientists to conclude it is the most likely place in the solar system for extraterrestrial life to be found.

Gravitational field measurements taken by Nasa’s Cassini space probe revealed that a 10km-deep ocean of water, larger than Lake Superior, lurks beneath the icy surface of Enceladus at the moon’s south pole.

David Stevenson, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said the body of water was so large it “may extend halfway or more towards the equator in every direction. It might even extend all the way to the north.”

The presence of a saltwater ocean a billion kilometres from Earth more than satisfies Nasa’s long-held mantra of “follow the water” to find signs of alien life, but water is not the only factor that makes Enceladus such a promising habitat. The water is in contact with the moon’s rocky core, so elements useful for life, such as phosphorus, sulfur and potassium, will leach into the ocean.

Interesting!

Note that Enceladus is pretty small, with a diameter of only 504km, and roughly 0.2% the mass of our Moon, according to Wikipedia .

our moon has water on it

just not as a lake

wonder if it might be different further down?

Enceladus
Enceladus is the sixth-largest of the moons of Saturn. It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel.

Enceladus seems to have liquid water under its icy surface. Cryovolcanoes at the south pole shoot large jets of water vapor, other volatiles, and some solid particles (e.g. ice crystals, NaCl particles, etc.) into space, totaling approximately 200 kg per second. Some of this water falls back onto the moon as “snow”, some of it adds to Saturn’s rings, and some of it reaches Saturn. The whole of Saturn’s E Ring is believed to have been made from these ice particles.

Because of the apparent water at or near the surface, Enceladus may be one of the best places for humans to look for extraterrestrial life. By contrast, the water thought to be on Jupiter’s moon Europa is locked under a very thick layer of surface ice, though recent evidence may show that Europa also experiences water plumes.

CrazyNeutrino said:

our moon has water on it

just not as a lake

wonder if it might be different further down?

The broad internal structure of the moon is well known due to passive seismic experiments

dv said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

our moon has water on it

just not as a lake

wonder if it might be different further down?

The broad internal structure of the moon is well known due to passive seismic experiments

the moon does have caves

might be water in some of them

CrazyNeutrino said:

dv said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

our moon has water on it

just not as a lake

wonder if it might be different further down?

The broad internal structure of the moon is well known due to passive seismic experiments

the moon does have caves

might be water in some of them

Water ice, perhaps. She’s a cold dead planet.

A mollwollfumble believe-it-or-not style question. Which is the only astronomical body in the solar system known to have a core of liquid water?

Answer: Pluto’s largest moon, Charon.

Details. Many bodies in the solar system are known to have subsurface oceans of liquid water, including Earth, Uranus, Neptune, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede. Other solar system bodies contain suspected subsurface liquid water oceans, including Callisto and Pluto. But Charon is the only one with a known core of liquid water. Because it’s in such a close orbit with Pluto the tidal interactions heat Charon’s interior.

mollwollfumble said:

A mollwollfumble believe-it-or-not style question. Which is the only astronomical body in the solar system known to have a core of liquid water?

Answer: Pluto’s largest moon, Charon.

Details. Many bodies in the solar system are known to have subsurface oceans of liquid water, including Earth, Uranus, Neptune, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede. Other solar system bodies contain suspected subsurface liquid water oceans, including Callisto and Pluto. But Charon is the only one with a known core of liquid water. Because it’s in such a close orbit with Pluto the tidal interactions heat Charon’s interior.

So why don’t The Moon’s tidal interactions with Earth heat its interior?

What is the temperature at The Moon’s core anyway?

The Rev Dodgson said:

So why don’t The Moon’s tidal interactions with Earth heat its interior?
What is the temperature at The Moon’s core anyway?

Core temperature

The moon has an iron-rich core with a radius of about 205 miles (330 km). The temperature in the core is probably about 2,420 to 2,600 F (1,327 to 1,427 C). The core heats an inner layer of molten mantle, but it’s not hot enough to warm the surface of the moon.

— Tim Sharp, SPACE.com Reference Editor

http://www.space.com/18175-moon-temperature.html