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Hubble Discovers Water Plumes Over Europa

Posted by samzenpus on from the thar-she-blows dept.

astroengine writes "Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have found plumes of water vapor shooting off the southern pole of Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter that is believed to have an underground ocean. If confirmed — so far the plumes have only been spotted once — the finding could have implications for the moon's suitability for life and help explain why its surface appears relatively young and crater-free. "The plumes are incredibly exciting, if they are there. They're bringing up material from in the ocean, perhaps there's organic material that will be laying on the surface of the south pole. Those are the things that we want to know about," James Green, head of NASA's planetary science programs, told reporters at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco on Thursday."

6 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. No Subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    all these worlds
    are yours except
    europa
    attempt no
    landing there

  2. Meanwhile, SETI has decoded a message . . . by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

    . . . "Have Leak! Send Plumber!" . . .

    . . . believed to have originated from Europa . . .

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:Meanwhile, SETI has decoded a message . . . by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Funny

      The only space-faring plumbers we have spend most of their time saving princesses.

  3. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sorry!

    All these worlds
    are yours except
    Europa
    Attempt No
    Landing there

  4. Re:In europa, by alphonse23 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not just snow, giant chunks of ice crashing into the ground. "Aww, snow -- how pretty -- (then) -- KABOOOM!"

  5. Re:old news by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Funny

    Perhaps they've evolved a better congressman.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.