Friday, December 13, 2013

HST Finds Water Plumes on Europa

Hey Space Placers!

Hubble Space Telescope (HST) made observations of the Jupiter moon Europa in December 2012 and review of the data was amazing. HST found the signature of water vapor coming from the south polar region of the large moon.

It has been suspected that Europa harbors a liquid water, perhaps even salt water ocean under its thick icy crust. These observations by HST would go a long way in adding credence to the existence of such an ocean but researchers are not ready to do so.

More observations will be made and the archives of the Galileo mission will be reviewed for potential observations as well.

Sky Guy in VA

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