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Jupiter's icy moon Europa 'spouts water' | Jupiter's icy moon Europa 'spouts water' |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Water may be spouting from Jupiter's icy moon Europa - considered one of the best places to find alien life in the Solar System. | Water may be spouting from Jupiter's icy moon Europa - considered one of the best places to find alien life in the Solar System. |
Images from the Hubble Space Telescope show surpluses of hydrogen and oxygen in the moon's southern hemisphere, say astronomers writing in Science journal. | |
If confirmed as water plumes, it raises hopes that Europa's underground ocean can be accessed from its surface. | If confirmed as water plumes, it raises hopes that Europa's underground ocean can be accessed from its surface. |
Future missions could probe these seas for signs of life. | Future missions could probe these seas for signs of life. |
Astrobiologists have said that, in theory, organisms could survive in the oceans of Europa, but feared the moon's thick icy crust may be an impenetrable barrier to finding out. | |
Tidal forces | Tidal forces |
In this new study, US physicists looked at images taken by Hubble in November and December last year, as well as older images from 1999. | |
In two distinct southern regions, they saw evidence of water being broken apart into hydrogen and oxygen - revealed by ultraviolet light signatures. | In two distinct southern regions, they saw evidence of water being broken apart into hydrogen and oxygen - revealed by ultraviolet light signatures. |
"They are consistent with two 200km-high (125-mile-high) plumes of water vapour," said lead author Lorenz Roth, of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas. | "They are consistent with two 200km-high (125-mile-high) plumes of water vapour," said lead author Lorenz Roth, of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas. |
These giant geysers appear to be transient - they arise for just seven hours at a time. | These giant geysers appear to be transient - they arise for just seven hours at a time. |
They peak when Europa is at its farthest from Jupiter (the apocentre of its orbit) and vanish when it comes closest (the pericentre). | They peak when Europa is at its farthest from Jupiter (the apocentre of its orbit) and vanish when it comes closest (the pericentre). |
This means that tidal acceleration could be driving water-spouting by opening cracks in the surface ice, the researchers propose. | |
They say the vapour jets may be like those seen on Saturn's moon Enceladus - with high-pressure emissions escaping from very narrow cracks. | They say the vapour jets may be like those seen on Saturn's moon Enceladus - with high-pressure emissions escaping from very narrow cracks. |
The results were reported at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California. | The results were reported at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California. |
Apart from further telescopic observations, the next opportunity to study the jets up close will be the European Space Agency's Juice mission. | |
Due to launch to the Jovian system in 2022, the spacecraft will make two close flybys of the ice-encrusted moon in the 2030s. With luck, its instrumentation will get close enough to directly sample the plumes. |