Similar in size to Earth’s Moon, Jupiter’s Europa satellite is a round ball of ice with an average temperature of minus 170 degrees. Considering that it is one of the few moons in the solar system in which life could have developed, the nervousness at a news of considerable importance was palpable.
Well, NASA has announced that, thanks to observations made by the Hubble space telescope, several water geysers have been discovered on the surface , evidencing the presence of an ocean of liquid water under its surface. That is, Europa, Jupiter’s moon, could potentially host extraterrestrial life.
These new water geysers (up to 200 kilometers high) provide renewed evidence that a huge global ocean hides under their ice crust, much like the one found on Enceladus, a satellite of Saturn that is also covered by a thick layer of ice.
The team of scientists, led by William Sparks, of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore (USA) observed “long fingers that were projected into space” when reviewing the images of the southern hemisphere from the satellite. Thus, in 10 observations spaced 15 months apart, experts observed Europa passing Jupiter and saw what appear to be highly changing geysers.
In total, 7 geysers have been discovered and Hubble images suggest that these occur during its orbit around Jupiter, which is very similar to our Moon, since it always offers the same face to the planet.
Geysers represent a plausible option for obtaining samples of the underground ocean without drilling the surface , so it would not be surprising if NASA soon sent a space mission to study this satellite closely.
With this finding, if definitively confirmed, Europa would become the second moon in the Solar System with active water vapor geysers. The first is Enceladus.
