The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus

On Wednesday, Nov 19, 2025 at 7 pm (PST), Dr. Alfonso Davila (NASA Ames Research Center) will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled:

“The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus”

within the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos (see instructions beneath)

The speak is a part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, now in its twenty sixth yr.

In 2005, the Cassini spacecraft made a groundbreaking discovery—it discovered an enormous plume of ice and fuel erupting from the south pole of Enceladus, a small however geologically lively moon of Saturn. The plume is now believed to originate from a subsurface ocean of liquid water beneath the moon’s icy crust, with situations suitable with life, as we all know it. This speak will deal with our present understanding of Enceladus’ plume and subsurface ocean, and on methods to look in them for doable proof of life.

Alfonso Davila is a Research Scientist within the Exobiology department at NASA Ames Research Center, the place he helps develop methods to seek for proof of life past Earth. He additionally conducts theoretical and experimental analysis on the character and distribution of life in Earth environments which might be thought-about analogous to extraterrestrial settings. His work investigates components that have an effect on organic potential and biosignature preservation in these environments. He has been a visitor speaker at worldwide conferences and a visitor lecturer in universities and analysis institutes within the US, Canada, South America and Europe.

Foothill College is simply off the El Monte Road exit from Freeway 280 in Los Altos.

For instructions and parking data, see:

For a campus map, to seek out the Smithwick Theater (Bldg. 1000), see:

Note: Parking lot 1 is closest, with entry to the theater by stairs.  Parking lot 5 supplies entry from the identical elevation because the theater.

The lecture is co-sponsored by:  

• The Foothill College Science, Tech, Engineering & Math Division
• SETI Institute
• The Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Past lectures within the sequence will also be discovered on YouTube at: and as audio podcasts at: