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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."

7 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmm by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Presuming these plumes are not one off events, couldn't we send an orbiter there to sample the plumes to at least get some idea of the chemistry of Europa's ocean, if not possibly outright detect signs of life?

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    1. Re:Hmmm by erice · · Score: 4, Informative

      Presuming these plumes are not one off events, couldn't we send an orbiter there to sample the plumes to at least get some idea of the chemistry of Europa's ocean, if not possibly outright detect signs of life?

      Yes, and according to the BBC article NASA researchers hope to do just that. However, Europa Clipper is expensive and long way off. They are hoping that a European probe due to launch in 2022 (like that is close) will do the job even though is not intended to go over the poles, which is where the plumes were seen.

    2. Re:Hmmm by green+is+the+enemy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The radiation environment around Europa most likely breaks apart any complex molecules that came from the ocean. The best possibility is a lander that would dig into the regolith. Unfortunately, looks like the Juno mission will not help even with locating landing spots on Europa. Its camera is too wide-angle.

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

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

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

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  3. Re:old news by amaurea · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We've known about the plumes for a long time:
    http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/LPSC99/pdf/1603.pdf

    This is just direct confirmation of what we already knew about.

    That paper talks about the possility that one might observe plumes, as one of several possible explanations for the terrain features seen on Europa. Actually observing such plumes is something else entirely.

    It's pretty clear Europa probably has some form of life under the ice. The odds are definitely in it's favor. It's just a matter of confirming it, just like these plumes. The really exciting bit will be if it's multicellular or even fish like animals. I really hope I live long enough to see it.

    How is that clear? On what do you base the claim that the odds are so good that "it's just a matter of confirming it"? I don't think you would find anybody working in that field willing to make that bold claims.

  4. Re:old news by icebike · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's pretty clear Europa probably has some form of life under the ice. The odds are definitely in it's favor.

    I don't see how you can get from plumes to life so glibly.
    Plumes can be strictly physical effects of tidal activity.

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  5. Re:old news by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Informative

    Better article (with sort of a picture of the phenomenon)

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