Europa (moon of Jupiter)

[Kyng]

(Click to enlarge; Public domain)

This is just a thread about Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. It was one of the four moons discovered by Galileo in 1610; together with Io, Callisto and Ganymede, it was one of the first four moons discovered orbiting a planet other than the Earth. The discovery of these moons was instrumental in convincing astronomers to ditch the ancient models of the Solar System based around everything orbiting the Earth (after all, if these moons were orbiting Jupiter, then they weren't orbiting the Earth!)

In more recent times, it's been discovered that Europa's surface is made out of water ice - and it's believed that an ocean of liquid water lies underneath. Consequently, Europa is considered one of the most promising locations in the search for extra-terrestrial life (along with Saturn's moon Enceladus, which also has its own thread).

So far, several space probes have carried out fly-bys of Europa; however, no spacecraft has yet landed on the moon's surface. This may change in the coming years, though, as there have been several proposals to land a probe on this fascinating body. The latest is a nuclear-powered tunnelbot, which would be able to drill through the sheet of ice on the moon's surface, and establish once and for all whether an ocean exists underneath it:

https://www.livescience.com/64322-europa...elbot.html

If this goes ahead, I'll be interested to see the results!

[Detective Osprey]

It's one of the most beautiful things in the solar system.

[Kyng]

Yeah, especially considering how intriguing the possibility of life is there.

Anyway, it's been found that the ocean on Europa has sodium chloride, just like our oceans do:

https://www.space.com/jupiter-moon-europ...-salt.html

I don't know whether or not this is good news for life there. I guess it depends on the salinity level: plenty of life gets on just fine in our oceans, but if it's much more than that, then that's probably worrisome!

[Kyng]

Apparently, ridges very similar to those on the surface of Europa have been found in Greenland:

https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/astrono...er-europa/

Furthermore, the ridges in Greenland were apparently formed by liquid water - which suggests that a similar mechanism might have created the ones on Europa.

Will be interesting to learn more!

[Kyng]

And now, it's been discovered that Europa has carbon:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023...ins-carbon

Doesn't prove that there's life, of course - but, I does raise the possibility of carbon-based lifeforms!

[ZandraJoi]

And now, it's been discovered that Europa has carbon:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023...ins-carbon

Doesn't prove that there's life, of course - but, I does raise the possibility of carbon-based lifeforms!

Marine life such as phytoplankton & coral use carbon. So their lifeforms may be marine!