Jupiter's "Mini-Me" Solar System Grows

An anonymous reader writes "University of Hawaii's robotic telescopes have discovered 8 new moons for Jupiter, thus bringing its mini solar system to 48 total. No one knows how Jupiter dissipates the energy of these likely asteroid captures, unless it once had a massively larger atmosphere. Indeed, its ion cloud today seems to spell doom for what Sir Arthur C. Clarke indicated, is another reason to avoid probing life on Europa. ('All these worlds are yours--except Europa. Attempt no landings there.'-- 2010: Odyssey Two). As an aside, one of those NASA sites seem technically to be doing text-to-speech in a very familiar-sounding, Stephen Hawkings version [MP3] of those articles."

Comments

Time to move...

[Em Emalb]

Since Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System it has influenced our neighborhood second only to the Sun.

Damnit, that's it. Jupiter and it's "friends" are creating too much havoc in this neighborhood, driving prices down, playing their music too damned loud. The police won't help, the astronomers seem to like it. Bah.

I'm moving.

Re:Time to move...

[Peterus7]

Heh, pretty soon they'll get a telescope to monitor Jupiter 24/7...

"Not so breaking news. Today, 14 more moons were discovered orbiting Jupiter. That makes the current count 4612. The astronomical community has asked people to start sending applications and $75 cash to name one of Jupiter's moons."

Europa's not the only possibility

[s20451]

Recent results from Galileo indicate that Callisto and Ganymede may also have vast oceans beneath their surfaces. So ruling out Europa doesn't mean that there is no life in the Jovian system.

Re:Europa's not the only possibility

[Soft]

So ruling out Europa doesn't mean that there is no life in the Jovian system.

Besides, I still can't see how the Europa torus could hamper life there. On the surface, yes, but that was pretty much already known. Life would be underwater, in an ocean tens of kilometers deep, the radiations won't penetrate that far. So don't rule out Europa.

Re:Europa's not the only possibility

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Life would be underwater, in an ocean tens of kilometers deep, the radiations won't penetrate that far. So don't rule out Europa."

Just wanted to bring up a point that's not considered very often: Life here on Earth exists in some VERY harsh environments. I don't think there's a natural area of Earth that's completely devoid of life. If you go underwater deep enough, you'll find life forms that exist without any light reaching them near some very hot thermal vents in the ocean floor.

Frankly, I'd be surprised if an ocean bearing planet or moon didn't have life.

Re:Bad text to speech....

[missing000]

Thequalityisokbymebutthewordsallseemtoruntogether

48???

[king_penguin_05]

48 is worthless!

42 is the answer.

Speaking of Stephen Hawking

[Tuxinatorium]

He seems to have turned his attention from Astrophysics to producing gangsta rap

Re:Size?

[mikerich]

Essentially a satellite is just a body orbiting its the parent planet. So there is really no lower limit on size.

At the moment it is just the resolution of our imaging techniques that limits what we call a satellite. There are bound to be hundreds, if not thousands of smaller bodies around Jupiter that we haven't spotted yet.

Let's just hope that they fit future spacecraft with radar, or send a man up the main mast.

Best wishes,
Mike.

Re:Spell doom for the system

[IAR80]

We should look for life on Europa but I thing it is not the right moment. We lack technical capabilities for now. A probe looking for life on Europa should travel the distance between Earth and Jupiter, land on Europa, burn its way through a very thick layer of ice (maybe 10 - 20km, swim autonmously trough a dark ocean probing for life, find its way up to the surface and transmit data back to earth. I think this is out of our technicak capabilities for now. Maybe latter.

Exactly !

[Evil Pete]

How is a radiation field going to penetrate kilometres of ice ... or even a few metres ? It can't. Timothy didn't even bother to read the original article which made NO mention of that conclusion .. he thought that up by himself.

Europa still looks good. In fact it looks like the best place to me.

fact check BEFORE posting....

[barakn]

its ion cloud today seems to spell doom for what Sir Arthur C. Clarke indicated, is another reason to avoid probing life on Europa

ceejayoz writes "A newly discovered gas cloud around Jupiter, created by ion radiation hitting the surface of Europa, has cast doubt on possible life on the moon.

The ion cloud is completely irrelevant to the chances of finding life deep in the oceans of Europa. The Earth itself is surrounded by belts of ionized radiation. Ions bombard the atmosphere hard enough for it to visibly glow near the magnetic poles. And yet life thrives in just about every Earth environment that isn't molten rock. And the original posted link about the Jovian ion torus never mentioned any hazards to Europan life.

Re:But what are their names?

[CheshireCatCO]

Jupiter's moons are all named (saith the official Internation Astronomers' Union rules) after paramours of Jupiter/Zeus. There are a few exceptions, named for the nurses of the young Jupiter.

But even with Zeus's ... er... excesses, we're running out of names.

(Saturn's moons are all titans, I believe, Neptune's are minor gods and goddess associated with, well, Neptune, and Uranus's are named for Shakespeare and Pope characters. Mostly sprites, I think.)

well crap...

[frozencesium]

why not take advantage of the "mini solar system" and just ignite jupiter and turn sol into a binary system?

2 stars = more sunlight to grow crops, power solar vehicals, etc...

ah crap...i've been watching too much stargate SG1...

-frozen