Look at the moon, look at that sea, indeed, that the ocean hides the nut ice of Europa, one of the four moons of Jupiter. And look at that geyser, that those of iceland. This time, Nasa has dropped the cards a decisive try, albeit “only” through images from the Hubble space telescope is because the first probe could reach there only in 2030, several times assumed an oceanic mass of liquid water under the icy crust of setellite jovian which is great a little less of the Moon. In reality, since the presence of water in the liquid state (and salt) is now taken for granted, the “amazing phenomenon” announced by Nasa are geysers (huge, since it is estimated to be high, up to 200 km) that pierce the thick cap ice of Europe.
Had already been taken on one occasion by Hubble, in 2012, but then these images, which are at the limit of the reach of a telescope of Nasa and Esa, are so vague that they must be interpreted and compared with a thousand other data to distill new knowledge, such as those revealed in the conference by Nasa.
it Goes without saying that the presence of water in this state authorizing you to think about the possible presence of forms of life, even if this condition is excluded from the theme of the announcement on the part of Nasa itself with a tweet:
Life or non-life, these geysers are a manna from heaven for the research because it may not be necessary to pierce the cap, the icy moon, the jovian to that salt water and heated from the activities of the tectonics of the moon, the jovian, a mass that is two times the water present on the Earth. The company to reach the water, and possible cradle of alien life, of rest, at the moment it is science fiction because the augers which are equipped with probes, the current can penetrate only for a few meters the land on which they operate.
NASA/ESA/W. Sparks (STScI)/USGS Astrogeology Science Center
If the discovery were to be confirmed, Europa would be the second moon in the solar System to have plumes of water vapor along with Enceladus, satellite of Saturn.
The first evidence of the presence of geysers on the surface of Europe, had already been collected in 2012 by researchers at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, the first to discover direct evidence for the existence of plumes of steam high up to 160 kilometres in the south polar region. This hypothesis is confirmed now by the group of William Sparks, Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which, thanks to the Hubble is able to observe the presence of the geysers during the transit of Europa in front of Jupiter in three different occasions in the span of 15 months. The data are published in a study of the Astrophysical Journal. Further evidence of the eruptive activity may come in the future, thanks to vista’s infrared James Webb Space Telescope, whose launch is planned for 2018. Nasa is also planning a mission live on Europe in order to study the plumes during a series of close flybys. The attention is so focused on Europe, as recent research conducted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jpl) of Nasa indicate that in the hidden ocean of Europa could be the right chemical balance to support life.
On Europe would in fact be active, a cycle of production of hydrogen and oxygen similar to that of our planet, so that you can food forms of life. It serves, however, still have a lot of patience: to pass the time better to look at images and representations of that world of ice, which is Europe, the more smooth and glittering between the characters of the solar system.
No comments:
Post a Comment