The discovery suggests that there is a hidden ocean lurking in our solar system.

Venus is an inhospitable world due to its high surface temperatures. Mars is known for its rusty horizons.

Even Jupiter and Saturn’s moons are uninhabitable, but Europa and Enceladus may have underground oceans. But now, based on recent observations by the James Webb Space Telescope, we have evidence that Uranus’ moon Ariel is a candidate for subsurface oceans.

How did you come to this conclusion? The James Webb Space Telescope’s borehole detected carbon dioxide ice on the surface at the trailing edge of the extra-orbiting features. The likely culprit: an underground ocean!

Uranus is the seventh planet in our solar system and has five moons. Ariel is one of these moons and has a fascinating feature, with an icy surface and fascinating geological features. It was discovered in 1851 by William Lassell, who financed his love of astronomy through his work in the brewing industry.

Ariel’s surface is a patchwork of ridges, ridges, faults, and valleys, driven primarily by tectonic activity. Cryovolcanism is a prominent process on the surface, resulting in constant resurfacing, giving Ariel the brightest surface of all Uranus’ moons.

By studying close-up images of the planet Ariel, it was found that the surface is covered with large amounts of carbon dioxide ice. However, the back half of the globe appears to be covered with water ice, which surprised the scientific community.

At the Uranian system’s distance from the Sun, an average of 2.9 billion kilometers, carbon dioxide would normally be converted directly into gas and lost to space and would not be expected to freeze. Until recently, the most popular theory was that carbon dioxide was created on Ariel’s surface through interactions between its surface and charged particles in Uranus’ magnetosphere. This process is known as radioactive decay and separates molecules from each other through ionization.

A new study published in the journal Astrophysical Letters suggests an interesting alternative, claiming that carbon dioxide molecules are being ejected from Ariel directly from an underground ocean of water.

The team of astronomers used James Webb to obtain a spectral analysis of Ariel. They then compared the results with laboratory results. The process revealed that Ariel has some of the richest carbon dioxide deposits in the solar system.

The deposits are not just trace elements, but on the contrary, they reach 10 mm across the entire back hemisphere. The results reveal that Ariel shows signs of carbon monoxide, which should not be present at average temperatures.

Radioactivity could also be responsible for at least some of the CO2 deposits, but ocean replenishment is thought to be the main contributor. This hypothesis has been supported by the detection of signals from carbonate minerals, salts that can only exist because of the interaction between rocks and water.

Of course, the only way to confirm the results is with a space mission to Uranus. Such a mission could explore the planet’s moons, dispelling any doubts.

Ariel is covered in valleys, cracks and grooves. It is suspected that these are openings to its interior. A robotic explorer in the Uranus system will be able to reveal the origin of Ariel’s carbon oxides.

Without this mission, we would still be in the dark, as Voyager 2 only imaged 35% of the Moon’s surface.

The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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