Posted on 03/06/2013 10:01:01 PM PST by BenLurkin
The huge ocean sloshing beneath the icy shell of Jupiter's moon Europa likely makes its way to the surface in some places, suggesting astronomers may not need to drill down deep to investigate it, a new study reports.
Scientists have detected chemicals on Europa's frozen surface that could only come from the global liquid-water ocean beneath, implying the two are in contact and potentially opening a window into an environment that may be capable of supporting life as we know it.
"We now have evidence that Europa's ocean is not isolated — that the ocean and the surface talk to each other and exchange chemicals," study lead author Mike Brown of Caltech in Pasadena said in a statement.
"That means that energy might be going into the ocean, which is important in terms of the possibilities for life there," Brown added. "It also means that if you’d like to know what’s in the ocean, you can just go to the surface and scrape some off."
Europa is tidally locked with Jupiter, meaning one hemisphere of the moon always leads in its orbit while the other one always trails. Keck detected a mysterious signal on Europa's trailing side that no other instrument had seen before, researchers said.
“We now have the best spectrum of this thing in the world,” Brown said. “Nobody knew there was this little dip in the spectrum because no one had the resolution to zoom in on it before.”
After much experimentation in the lab, Brown and Hand determined that the spectroscopic signal was caused by a magnesium sulfate salt called epsomite.
"Magnesium should not be on the surface of Europa unless it’s coming from the ocean,"
"So that means ocean water gets onto the surface, and stuff on the surface presumably gets into the ocean water."
(Excerpt) Read more at science.nbcnews.com ...
Is this anything like farting in a tub full of Jello ?
After a few decades, when the muslims feel good about themselves again, perhaps Syria might send a probe there.
Thats pretty much what I was thinking.
In the time it would take to get to Jupiter ,life as we know it on this planet wil probably be over.
We have the N Koreans and Iran wiith nukes, China arming up, and Russia playing footsie with them, Israel may have to nuke someone to save itself, Yes big troubles . Really big troubles, and here we are not building a highway interchange because they found a female bat somewhere near it.
thanks for that mental picture - akin to a “dutch oven” fart underneath the covers
“All these worlds are yours, except Europa, attempt no landing there.”
ping
;’)
global warming!
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