Jupiters Europa from Spacecraft Galileo
Explanation:
What mysteries might be solved by peering into this crystal ball?
In this case, the ball is actually a moon of
Jupiter,
the crystals are ice, and the moon is not only dirty but cracked
beyond repair.
Nevertheless, speculation is rampant that oceans exist under
Europa's
fractured ice-plains that
could support life.
This speculation was bolstered again this week by
released images from the
Hubble Space Telescope indicating that plumes of
water vapor sometimes emanate from the ice-crusted moon --
plumes that might bring
microscopic sea life to the surface.
Europa, roughly the
size of
Earth's Moon, is
pictured here
in natural color as photographed in 1996 by the now-defunct Jupiter-orbiting
Galileo spacecraft.
Future observations by
Hubble
and planned missions such as the
James Webb Space Telescope
later this decade and a
Europa flyby mission in the 2020s may further humanity's understanding not only
of Europa and the
early Solar System but also of the possibility that
life exists elsewhere in the universe.
Free Download:
APOD 2017 Calendar: NASA Images
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
