January 28, 2003
You share your birthday with the light of distant galaxies that has been traveling for millions of years just to arrive here, now, alongside...
The Lost World of Lake Vida
Birthday · January 28, 2003
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APOD published January 28, 2003. Credit: Thomas Nylen & Andrew Fountain (PSU), NASA, NSF. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
A lake hidden beneath 19 meters of ice and gravel has been found near the bottom of the world that might contain an ecosystem completely separate from our own. In a modern version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic book Lost World, scientists are now plotting a mission to drill down into the lake and take out a small part to see what's there. Lake Vida, buried under Antarctic ice for over 2,500 years, is liquid only because of its high salt content. Previously, scientists drilled to within a few meters of the lake and indeed found frozen microbes. Their existence bolsters speculation that similar microorganisms could be found in frozen brine beneath the surface of Mars. If living organisms are found in Lake Vida, they may give an indication that life might even still exist under similar frozen ice-sheets, such as under the larger Lake Vostok, parts of Mars, and even moons of Jupiter such as Europa. Pictured above, a robot meteorological station continues to monitor surface conditions over the ice-sealed lake.
Image credit: Thomas Nylen & Andrew Fountain (PSU), NASA, NSF