Posted on 09/06/2014 10:04:58 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Dr Kurt Retherford of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio told Space.com that he thought this was unlikely.
The best explanation still is plumes for that [December 2013] dataset, no doubt about it, he said.
Another suggestion is that the plumes may be too small to see; indeed, even Cassini has struggled to spot vapour associated with the plumes being expelled into space.
The previous evidence for the jets had come in the form of water vapour spotted by Hubble above Europa.
Although several explanations were offered, Nasa was pretty sure this vapour was due to erupting plumes on the surface.
Confirming the existence of the plumes and studying them further will be key to any future mission going to Europa.
However these latest findings will need to be studied further to ensure they definitely are there.
Dr Retherford and his team will be carrying out subsequent observations with Hubble from November this year to April 2015 to confirm that the jets exist.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
AGW. Obviously.
I’m guessing they’re intermittent phenomenon.
EU bureaucrats at work.
LOL! Yup! Definitely “global warming”.
The water spouts were diverted by Jupertarian Envirowackos to deny farmers irrigation, while saving the endangered Jupiter Tsetse Fly? ;)
Perhaps due to it's orbit (1.25 days in the sun, same out of the sun), that it is tidal locked, and the pull from Io, which seems to meet Europa at the same spot in orbit.
IIRC, part of the 'trick' of being able to even photograph these geysers was catching the moon as it was about to go from light to dark.
Its Global Warming and thus W’s fault...
Missing geysers.
Silver alert!
Oh...that would be missing geezers.
Never mind.
It’s the big black rectangular slab obelisk.
I didn't see the obligatory 2010 joke, that's a break for me. Thanks left that other site.
Lack of sunspots also means less heat arriving to cause changes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.