Your hypothesis?

[tenguzero]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050830/ts_nm/saturn_dc

Tidal actions? Volcanic Activity?

Or maybe, just maybe, the location of an advanced alien culture, staking their outpost on an icy little moon orbiting Saturn -- one they figured we wouldn't really pay much attention to -- where they could monitor us on Earth, and send the findings back to the mother planet/ship. How else do you explain the warmest part of the moon being at one of the poles? It could be volcanic activity, but then wouldn't there probably be at least one other loaction on the moon where volcanic activity would be detected? You heard it here first: alien outpost, monitoring us, trying to keep themselves low key -- but they probably still need heat of some sort.

[AlmostStock]

It's radioactive waste from an alien spacecraft. The aliens being environmentally responsible know that it's better to eject this waste on a small uninhabited body than to just let it loose in space where it could end up anywhere and cause great harm. Pretty smart I'd say.

[tenguzero]

Your suggestion definately makes sense... It just so happened that a passing ship at some point in time ejected it's radioactive waste (perhaps from its engine core) onto or in the vicinity of the moon. The waste managed to land on that moon, and it now resides there, waiting for us to unearth it. Of course, it could be buried under a mile of ice (who knows what processes took place in the interim and how long the waste has been there) but I have a feeling that, if we were to send a probe there capable of burrowing down into the ice, we may just find traces of -- something. Perhaps it was as recent as half a century ago, when we were last visited (one can only assume that whatever is down there in Area 51 is probably just a small component of a larger body.)

[DGB454]

A sauna it's not. At -296 degrees Farenheit at the hot spot I have a feeling it's not alive whatever it is.

[twospirits]

Originally Posted by DGB454

A sauna it's not. At -296 degrees Farenheit at the hot spot I have a feeling it's not alive whatever it is.

Whos to say that a creature can't live in that environment. We have sea creatures living at the bottom of the ocean where its very cold and dark, whos to say that a creature hasn't adapted to such climates.

Although I find it a bit farfetched that its a outpost of some alien culture. It is strange nonetheless.

TS out

[Steel]

actaully, the creatures living on the ocean floor withstand temperatures of HUNDREDS of degrees by the geothermal vents.