ナショナルジオグラフィックさんのインスタグラム写真 - (ナショナルジオグラフィックInstagram)「Photos by @carstenpeter | From Earth’s surface to its subterranean caverns, some of the most alien habitats on Earth may come closest to comparing with Jupiter’s and Saturn’s icy moons and alien oceans. In these images: With support from caver Valentina Mariani, divers Kenny Broad and Nadir Quarta prepare to descend into Lago Verde in Italy’s Frasassi cave system. Initially, I was a bit underwhelmed by the little triangular entry, but after some rigging by Italian cavers, we managed to get high enough into the cavern. Only circuit diving assures that no oxygen “pollutes“ Lago Verde’s water, which is toxic to humans but rich in hydrogen sulfide and habitable for microbes with otherworldly metabolisms. A caver hands sampling ampules to Broad. A little while later, he will discover a new gallery full of interesting microbial structures to collect. A dirty and muddy environment is a challenge for geomicrobiologists Dani Buchheister and Jennifer Macalady to overcome as they process samples of biofilm collected in Lago Verde. Flying a drone in Svalbard, Norway, numbed my fingertips for about two weeks. The blueish arctic twilight makes the area look like an icy moon. A small mountain formation, called a pingo, keeps a secret: a body of water rich in methane and hydrogen sulfide. Pingos are another strange habitat for specialized microbes. Amid strong Arctic wind, astrobiologist Kevin Hand (kneeling, right) and microbiologist Dimitri Kalenitchenko (far right) drill into a pingo in Svalbard. The liquid they extract is almost instantly frozen. #WorldSpaceWeek Read the full story at the link in bio.」10月7日 7時00分