Posted on 05/14/2018 10:23:16 AM PDT by Simon Green
The case for a giant plume of water vapor wafting from Jupiter's potentially life-supporting moon Europa just got a lot stronger.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has spotted tantalizing signs of such a plume multiple times over the past half decade, but those measurements were near the limits of the powerful instrument's sensitivity. Now, researchers report in a new study that NASA's Galileo Jupiter probe, which orbited the planet from 1995 to 2003, also detected a likely Europa plume, during a close flyby of the icy moon in 1997.
The newly analyzed Galileo data provides "compelling independent evidence that there seems to be a plume on Europa," said study lead author Xianzhe Jia, an associate professor in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. [Possible Water Plumes on Europa: The Discovery in Images]
This is exciting news for astrobiologists: If the plume is indeed real, it could offer a way for a spacecraft to sample Europa's buried ocean of liquid water without even touching down on the moon. And NASA is working on a mission that could do just that.
Hints of a plume
At 1,900 miles (3,100 kilometers) wide, Europa is slightly smaller than Earth's moon. But scientists think the Jovian satellite harbors a huge amount of liquid water — perhaps twice as much water as Earth does, in fact — in a deep global ocean sloshing beneath the object's ice shell.
This ocean appears to be in contact with Europa's rocky core, making possible a variety of interesting and complex chemical reactions. So, many astrobiologists regard Europa as one of the solar system's best bets to host alien life, along with the icy Saturn moon Enceladus, which also features a subsurface ocean.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Make no attempt at landing there.......................
Or a third movie.
The books series went on....................
And no doubt better.
I never read any of those books.
Not much of a reader in the past couple of decades.
Last winter, I handled hundreds of books. They were boxed by me, hauled on a trailer by me, unloaded by me (mostly), and walked upstairs by me (mostly) to sit in piles on a floor.
No real interest in reading for a few years to come.
So, like, Europa is a big, round whale?
Thanks Simon Green.
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How about a quick game of "Fire in the East"?
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Now that’s a board game!
Each game turn simulated one week of the war. Back in my college days, we actually got through most of a complete game, but the German player let most of his Eastern Front armies get out of supply in the winter of '42 - '43, and I (as Russia) annihilated them.
He bowed to the inevitable and gave up.
“...the German player let most of his Eastern Front armies get out of supply in the winter of ‘42 - ‘43, and I (as Russia) annihilated them.”
Pretty much what Guederian concluded in his book “Panzer Leader”.
I’ve been a fan of Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich by Avalon Hills. Loved their games.
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