• The existence of geysers of water on Jupiter’s moon could change the search for extraterrestrial life.
  • The announcement of the NASA confirms preliminary findings that the Hubble made in 2012.

The u.s. space agency has put end to rumors circulating like wildfire from a week ago, when he announced the convening of a press conference about a “surprising activity” in Europe, one of the moons of Jupiter. NASA has confirmed the existence of geysers of water that they explode from the surface of the satellite to reach the 200 kilometers of height, as revealed initially by the Hubble telescope in December of 2012. These fumaroles of water can change the mission that will explore Europe during the next decade. The moon of Jupiter is one of the regions of the solar system most likely to host extraterrestrial life. However, as has been stated Steve Cole during the press conference, “the finding has nothing to do with the discovery of life.”

Europe is one of the satellites that Galileo discovered in 1610 orbiting Jupiter. The moon is considered to be the place with highest probability of occupancy to contain, presumably, an ocean under the icy crust of its surface. The existence of water is related to the origin of life on Earth, so that the detection of this fluid increases the chances that there are living beings outside of our planet. But, how can we know that there is an ocean within Europe? The discovery, revealed today by NASA is important, precisely because it will change the conditions for a future mission to this satellite of Jupiter.

as in Encédalo, the moon of Saturn, the geysers of water of Europe will help us to know more about this inner ocean. And it is these jets connected to the depths of the satellite jupiteriano with the outer space. Any probe that soar over Europe in the future will be able to analyze these geysers to learn more about the conditions of the hypothetical ocean, which hides in its interior. And, as a result, scientists will have more data on the environment that could host extraterrestrial life in Europe. Although, at least for the moment these hypotheses are not guesses about the mysteries of the fourth largest moon of Jupiter, named in honor of the lover of Zeus according to Greek mythology.

the finding of NASA confirms the preliminary results obtained by the Hubble at the end of 2012. At that time, the telescope captured the first evidence of the existence of “plumes” of water (plumes, in English) that came out fired from the surface of Europa. In the past four years, however, it is not returned to detect fumaroles soda similar, it was considered that those vapors observed in the south pole of the moon jovian masses had been a passing episode and uncommon. The geysers observed now are the “expression is more superficial,” of these water jets that appear to emanate from the interior of the satellite of Jupiter. A discovery that will allow us to study in greater detail this moon as a potential corner living space of our solar system.