Europa’s hidden ocean supported by decades-old data

[Mike Wehner]

• Jupiter's moon Europa may have a vast ocean of water beneath its surface, and new data from Galileo supports that theory.
• Researchers found that a lack of protons over Europa's north pole could indicate an active water plume.
• Tidal forces prevent the water from freezing, but whether life exists there remains a mystery.
• Visit BGR's homepage for more stories.

Jupiter's moon Europa is an incredibly interesting place. It's a massive ball of ice that scientists believe is hiding a vast ocean of liquid water. Proving that there's water buried beneath the crust is tricky, but a new study reveals that data gathered two decades ago supports that theory.

As Gizmodo reports, a new paper published in Geophysical Research Letters focuses on readings taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft way back in 2000. During that mission, Galileo's Energetic Particle Detector was constantly on the lookout for charged particles moving rapidly through space. When the spacecraft cruised over Europa's north pole, its particle detector noted a dearth of protons.

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Europa’s hidden ocean supported by decades-old data originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 14 May 2020 at 20:07:41 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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