Europa tagged posts

On Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, powerful eruptions may spew into space, raising questions among hopeful astrobiologists on Earth: What would blast out from miles-high plumes? Could they contain signs of extraterrestrial life? And where in Europa would they originate? A new explanation now points to a source closer to the frozen surface than might be expected.

Rather than originating from deep within Europa’s oceans, some eruptions may originate from water pockets embedded in the icy shell itself, ...

Finding prompts a rethinking of the icy moon’s subsurface ocean. Researchers have discovered that the yellow color visible on portions of the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa is actually sodium chloride.

A familiar ingredient has been hiding in plain sight on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa...

This graphic illustrates how Cassini scientists think water interacts with rock at the bottom of the ocean of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, producing hydrogen gas. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Southwest Research Institute

Two veteran NASA missions are providing new details about icy, ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn, further heightening the scientific interest of these and other “ocean worlds” in our solar system and beyond. Cassini scientists announce that a form of chemical energy that life can feed on appears to exist on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, and Hubble reports additional evidence of plumes erupting from Jupiter’s moon Europa.

“This is the closest we’ve come, so far, to identifying a place with some of the ingredients needed for a habitable environment,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, as...

On present-day Europa, the researchers expect water could reach as deep as 25 kilometers (15 miles) into the rocky interior, driving key chemical reactions throughout a deeper fraction of Europa’s seafloor. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

The ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa could have the necessary balance of chemical energy for life, even if the moon lacks volcanic hydrothermal activity, finds a new study. Europa is strongly believed to hide a deep ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy shell. The answer may hinge on whether Europa has environments where chemicals are matched in the right proportions to power biological processes. Life on Earth exploits such niches.

JPL scientists compared Europa’s potential for producing hydrogen and oxygen with that of Earth, through processe...