Posted on 07/27/2021 1:33:48 AM PDT by blueplum
For the first time, astronomers have uncovered evidence of water vapor in the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. This water vapor forms when ice from the moon's surface sublimates—that is, turns from solid to gas...
...Previous research has offered circumstantial evidence that Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, contains more water than all of Earth's oceans. However, temperatures there are so cold that water on the surface is frozen solid....
...Roth and his team then took a closer look at the relative distribution of the aurora in the UV images. Ganymede's surface temperature varies strongly throughout the day, and around noon near the equator it may become sufficiently warm that the ice surface releases (or sublimates) some small amounts of water molecules. In fact, the perceived differences in the UV images are directly correlated with where water would be expected in the moon's atmosphere....
...Ganymede was identified for detailed investigation because it provides a natural laboratory for analysis of the nature, evolution and potential habitability of icy worlds in general, the role it plays within the system of Galilean satellites, and its unique magnetic and plasma interactions with Jupiter and its environment....
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
I’ve heard that Jupiter’s radiation belts make above surface habitation of all but the outermost of its large Galilean moons (Callisto) unlikely. Of course with no atmosphere and sub-freezing temperature, the surface of Ganymede doesn’t exactly offer the country life anyway.
Water found on Uranus could be troublesome.
Not as bothersome as a batch of Cling-ons!
Uranus?
Wipe my Butt.
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