Hamartia Antidote
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2013
- Messages
- 35,183
- Reaction score
- 30
- Country
- Location
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...firm-hidden-ocean-engulfs-Jupiter-s-moon.html
Hubble has spotted giant plumes of water 125 miles high erupting from the surface of Europa, raising hopes it could hold life in a vast underground ocean engulfing the moon.
The new images 'indicate a global saline liquid water ocean engulfs the moon at the present time hidden under miles of ice,' NASA said.
It increases the possibility that missions to Europa may be able to sample Europa's ocean without having to drill through miles of ice.
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have imaged what may be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.
'For a long time humanity has been wondering whether there has been life elsewhere,' said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
'We are lucky to live in an era where we can address that scienticically
'On earth life is found wherever there is energy water and nutrients
'So we have special interest in any place that might possess those characteristics, and Europa might be such a place.
'Todays results increase our confidence that water and other materials from Europa’s hidden ocean under miles of ice might be on the surface of Europa might be available to study without digging under miles of ice.
If the finding is confirmed, Europa would be the second moon in the solar system where water plumes have been detected.
The Cassini spacecraft previously spied jets erupting from the surface of the Saturn moon Enceladus.
'Europa's ocean is considered to be one of the most promising places that could potentially harbor life in the solar system,' said Geoff Yoder, acting associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
'These plumes, if they do indeed exist, may provide another way to sample Europa's subsurface.'
The plumes, photographed by NASA's Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were seen in silhouette as the moon passed in front of Jupiter. Hubble's ultraviolet sensitivity allowed for the features - rising over 100 miles (160 kilometers) above Europa's icy surface - to be discerned.
The water is believed to come from a subsurface ocean on Europa.
The Hubble data were taken on January 26, 2014.
The image of Europa, superimposed on the Hubble data, is assembled from data from the Galileo and Voyager missions.
The plumes are estimated to rise about 125 miles (200 kilometers) before, presumably, raining material back down onto Europa's surface.
Europa has a huge global ocean containing twice as much water as Earth's oceans, but it is protected by a layer of extremely cold and hard ice of unknown thickness.
The plumes provide a tantalizing opportunity to gather samples originating from under the surface without having to land or drill through the ice.
The team, led by William Sparks of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore observed these finger-like projections while viewing Europa's limb as the moon passed in front of Jupiter.
The original goal of the team's observing proposal was to determine whether Europa has a thin, extended atmosphere, or exosphere.
Using the same observing method that detects atmospheres around planets orbiting other stars, the team realized if there was water vapor venting from Europa's surface, this observation would be an excellent way to see it.
The atmosphere of an extrasolar planet blocks some of the starlight that is behind it,' Sparks explained.
'If there is a thin atmosphere around Europa, it has the potential to block some of the light of Jupiter, and we could see it as a silhouette.
'And so we were looking for absorption features around the limb of Europa as it transited the smooth face of Jupiter.'
They saw what could be plumes erupting on three of these occasions.
This work provides supporting evidence for water plumes on Europa. In 2012, a team led by Lorenz Roth of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, detected evidence of water vapor erupting from the frigid south polar region of Europa and reaching more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) into space.
Although both teams used Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph instrument, each used a totally independent method to arrive at the same conclusion.
'When we calculate in a completely different way the amount of material that would be needed to create these absorption features, it's pretty similar to what Roth and his team found,' Sparks said.
'The estimates for the mass are similar, the estimates for the height of the plumes are similar. The latitude of two of the plume candidates we see corresponds to their earlier work.'
But as of yet, the two teams have not simultaneously detected the plumes using their independent techniques.
'Observations thus far have suggested the plumes could be highly variable, meaning that they may sporadically erupt for some time and then die down.
For example, observations by Roth's team within a week of one of the detections by Sparks' team failed to detect any plumes.
If confirmed, Europa would be the second moon in the solar system known to have water vapor plumes.
In 2005, NASA's Cassini orbiter detected jets of water vapor and dust spewing off the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Many speculated that Nasa could finally be announcing evidence of life beyond Earth.
The space agency, however, has poured cold water over these claims, tweeting that the much anticipated announcement will not be related to aliens, causing engineer Bobak Jerowski to tweet it was 'Getting a really awesome birthday present, but knowing by the box it's not the robot best friend you always wanted
Jupiter's sixth-closest moon Europa lies 500 million miles from the sun and has an ocean lying beneath its surface which makes it one of the most likely places in the solar system for life to thrive.
Because Europa has the potential to have more liquid water than we have on Earth, some had speculated that the surprise reveal could be evidence for life.
The 1,900-mile-wide (3,100 km) moon harbors a huge ocean of liquid water beneath its icy shell.
Astronomers think this ocean is in contact with Europa's rocky mantle, making all sorts of interesting chemical reactions a possibility.
Instead of direct evidence of life, however, experts have said it is more likely to be a step towards finding it
The announcement could be related to faint plumes of water spotted on the moon back in 2012.
Hubble used a spectrograph to see normally invisible plumes of water vapour, shown in pictures as blue pixels above the moon.
'By far the simplest explanation for this water vapour is that it erupted from plumes on the surface of Europa,' lead author Lorenz Roth of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio said at the time.
'If those plumes are connected with the subsurface water ocean we are confident exists under Europa's crust, then this means that future investigations can directly investigate the chemical makeup of Europa's potentially habitable environment without drilling through layers of ice.
'And that is tremendously exciting.'
Bill McKinnon, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, told Business Insider the announcement is likely to be connected to these plumes.
'A plume confirmation would be a great thing,' McKinnon added, but 'I have no insider knowledge.'
Hubble's instruments were not designed to see any of Europa's geology or study what elements are present in the plumes, so an announcement of this kind is unlikely.
Hubble has spotted giant plumes of water 125 miles high erupting from the surface of Europa, raising hopes it could hold life in a vast underground ocean engulfing the moon.
The new images 'indicate a global saline liquid water ocean engulfs the moon at the present time hidden under miles of ice,' NASA said.
It increases the possibility that missions to Europa may be able to sample Europa's ocean without having to drill through miles of ice.
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have imaged what may be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.
'For a long time humanity has been wondering whether there has been life elsewhere,' said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
'We are lucky to live in an era where we can address that scienticically
'On earth life is found wherever there is energy water and nutrients
'So we have special interest in any place that might possess those characteristics, and Europa might be such a place.
'Todays results increase our confidence that water and other materials from Europa’s hidden ocean under miles of ice might be on the surface of Europa might be available to study without digging under miles of ice.
If the finding is confirmed, Europa would be the second moon in the solar system where water plumes have been detected.
The Cassini spacecraft previously spied jets erupting from the surface of the Saturn moon Enceladus.
'Europa's ocean is considered to be one of the most promising places that could potentially harbor life in the solar system,' said Geoff Yoder, acting associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
'These plumes, if they do indeed exist, may provide another way to sample Europa's subsurface.'
The plumes, photographed by NASA's Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were seen in silhouette as the moon passed in front of Jupiter. Hubble's ultraviolet sensitivity allowed for the features - rising over 100 miles (160 kilometers) above Europa's icy surface - to be discerned.
The water is believed to come from a subsurface ocean on Europa.
The Hubble data were taken on January 26, 2014.
The image of Europa, superimposed on the Hubble data, is assembled from data from the Galileo and Voyager missions.
The plumes are estimated to rise about 125 miles (200 kilometers) before, presumably, raining material back down onto Europa's surface.
Europa has a huge global ocean containing twice as much water as Earth's oceans, but it is protected by a layer of extremely cold and hard ice of unknown thickness.
The plumes provide a tantalizing opportunity to gather samples originating from under the surface without having to land or drill through the ice.
The team, led by William Sparks of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore observed these finger-like projections while viewing Europa's limb as the moon passed in front of Jupiter.
The original goal of the team's observing proposal was to determine whether Europa has a thin, extended atmosphere, or exosphere.
Using the same observing method that detects atmospheres around planets orbiting other stars, the team realized if there was water vapor venting from Europa's surface, this observation would be an excellent way to see it.
The atmosphere of an extrasolar planet blocks some of the starlight that is behind it,' Sparks explained.
'If there is a thin atmosphere around Europa, it has the potential to block some of the light of Jupiter, and we could see it as a silhouette.
'And so we were looking for absorption features around the limb of Europa as it transited the smooth face of Jupiter.'
They saw what could be plumes erupting on three of these occasions.
This work provides supporting evidence for water plumes on Europa. In 2012, a team led by Lorenz Roth of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, detected evidence of water vapor erupting from the frigid south polar region of Europa and reaching more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) into space.
Although both teams used Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph instrument, each used a totally independent method to arrive at the same conclusion.
'When we calculate in a completely different way the amount of material that would be needed to create these absorption features, it's pretty similar to what Roth and his team found,' Sparks said.
'The estimates for the mass are similar, the estimates for the height of the plumes are similar. The latitude of two of the plume candidates we see corresponds to their earlier work.'
But as of yet, the two teams have not simultaneously detected the plumes using their independent techniques.
'Observations thus far have suggested the plumes could be highly variable, meaning that they may sporadically erupt for some time and then die down.
For example, observations by Roth's team within a week of one of the detections by Sparks' team failed to detect any plumes.
If confirmed, Europa would be the second moon in the solar system known to have water vapor plumes.
In 2005, NASA's Cassini orbiter detected jets of water vapor and dust spewing off the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Many speculated that Nasa could finally be announcing evidence of life beyond Earth.
The space agency, however, has poured cold water over these claims, tweeting that the much anticipated announcement will not be related to aliens, causing engineer Bobak Jerowski to tweet it was 'Getting a really awesome birthday present, but knowing by the box it's not the robot best friend you always wanted
Jupiter's sixth-closest moon Europa lies 500 million miles from the sun and has an ocean lying beneath its surface which makes it one of the most likely places in the solar system for life to thrive.
Because Europa has the potential to have more liquid water than we have on Earth, some had speculated that the surprise reveal could be evidence for life.
The 1,900-mile-wide (3,100 km) moon harbors a huge ocean of liquid water beneath its icy shell.
Astronomers think this ocean is in contact with Europa's rocky mantle, making all sorts of interesting chemical reactions a possibility.
Instead of direct evidence of life, however, experts have said it is more likely to be a step towards finding it
The announcement could be related to faint plumes of water spotted on the moon back in 2012.
Hubble used a spectrograph to see normally invisible plumes of water vapour, shown in pictures as blue pixels above the moon.
'By far the simplest explanation for this water vapour is that it erupted from plumes on the surface of Europa,' lead author Lorenz Roth of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio said at the time.
'If those plumes are connected with the subsurface water ocean we are confident exists under Europa's crust, then this means that future investigations can directly investigate the chemical makeup of Europa's potentially habitable environment without drilling through layers of ice.
'And that is tremendously exciting.'
Bill McKinnon, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, told Business Insider the announcement is likely to be connected to these plumes.
'A plume confirmation would be a great thing,' McKinnon added, but 'I have no insider knowledge.'
Hubble's instruments were not designed to see any of Europa's geology or study what elements are present in the plumes, so an announcement of this kind is unlikely.
