A moon of Saturn has a surprising variety of carbon-based molecules that look like they were made in its hidden ocean — the kind of environment where life might begin, new research reveals.

NASA 's Cassini spacecraft flew through the enormous geysers spurting out of Enceladus in 2008. Those plumes, soaring 6,000 miles above the moon's icy crust, harbor water and salts but also a mix of complex carbon-based molecules. These include chemicals that, on Earth, often come from hot water-rock reactions near seafloor vents , where many scientists believe the origins of life started for this planet.

Cassini had previously detected tiny ice grains in Saturn's rings that contained organic molecules and precursors to amino acids , the molecules that build proteins. Scientists

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