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Life in europa
The Original Alien Ocean World
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Europa is believed to conceal a global ocean of salty liquid up to twice the volume of Earth's oceans. Tugging and flexing from Jupiter's gravity generates enough heat to keep the ocean from freezing.
Four hundred years ago, the astronomer Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's four large moons forever changed humanity's view of the universe, helping to bring about the understanding that Earth was not the center of all motion. Today one of these Galilean moons could again revolutionize science and our sense of place, for hidden beneath Europa's icy surface is perhaps the most promising place to look for present-day environments that are suitable for life.
This new appreciation began to unfold in 1995, when a spacecraft named in Galileo's honor arrived in the Jupiter system to follow up on earlier discoveries by the Voyager mission. The Galileo spacecraft sent tantalizing samplings of data that provided strong evidence for a deep global ocean beneath Europa's icy crust, leading to speculation on the potential for life within icy moons.
Meanwhile, over the last quarter century we have learned that Jupiter-like planets are common around other stars, and that many could have icy moons like Europa. This realization means that studying Europa will help us understand the habitability of icy worlds throughout the cosmos.
NASA - europa.nasa.gov/about-europa/...
Music:
Martian Cowboy Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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