The icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn have unusual radar-scattering properties that may indicate the presence of alien life, according to new research.
Alien hunters reckon they are the likeliest places in the solar system to harbor extraterrestrial life.
Study first author Dr. Jason Hofgartner, of the Southwest Research Institute, said: "Six different models have been published in an attempt to explain the radar signatures of the icy moons that orbit Jupiter and Saturn.
"The way these objects scatter radar is drastically different than that of the rocky worlds, such as Mars and Earth, as well as smaller bodies such as asteroids and comets."
Jupiter's moon Europa has a vast and unfathomably deep ocean. It is widely considered the most promising place to look for life beyond Earth.
Prior to its dramatic and intentional crash into Saturn in 2017, the Cassini spacecraft gathered data that suggests its moon Enceladus contains most of the ingredients that are essential to life.
The gas giants' satellites are also extremely bright - even in areas where they should be darker.
Hofgartner said: "When we look up at Earth's moon it looks like a circular disk, even though we know it's a sphere.
"Planets and other moons similarly look like disks through telescopes.
"While making radar observations, the center of the disk is very bright and the edges much darker. The change from center to edge is very different for these icy satellites than for rocky worlds."
The study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, found the moons of Jupiter and Saturn have extraordinary radar properties.
Their reflectiveness and polarization, or orientation of light waves as they propagate through space, is likely due to a phenomenon known as CBOE (coherent backscatter opposition effect).
It happens because the electric and magnetic fields of the scattered radiation fluctuate in unison rather than canceling out.
Hofgartner said: "When you are at opposition, the Sun is positioned directly behind you on the line between you and an object, the surface appears much brighter than it would otherwise.
"This is known as the opposition effect. In the case of radar, a transmitter stands in for the Sun and a receiver for your eyes."
An icy surface has an even stronger impact than normal. For every scattering path of light bouncing through the ice, there is a path in the exact opposite direction.
Because the two paths have precisely the same length, they combine coherently, resulting in further brightening.
In the 1990s, studies were published stating that the CBOE was one explanation for the anomalous radar signatures of icy satellites.
But other explanations could explain the data equally well. The researchers modified CBOE model is the first to explain all of the icy satellites' radar properties.
Hofgartner said: "I think that tells us that the surfaces of these objects and their subsurfaces down to many meters are very tortured.
"They are not very uniform. Icy rocks dominate the landscape, perhaps looking somewhat like the chaotic mess after a landslide. That would explain why the light is bouncing in so many different directions, giving us these unusual polarization signatures."
The findings are based on an analysis of observations collected by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
It has since been decommissioned after the collapse of its support structure in 2020.
A cable holding a receiver platform snapped and sent the alien-hunting telescope hurtling onto the reflector dish.
The U.S. team hopes to make follow-up observations when possible and plan to study additional archival data that may shed even more light on icy satellites and the CBOE, as well as radar studies of ice at the poles of Mercury, the Moon and Mars.
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