CAPSLOCKSTUCK
Spaced Out Lunar Tick
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2013
- Messages
- 8,578 (2.10/day)
- Location
- llaregguB...WALES
| System Name | Party On |
|---|---|
| Processor | Xeon w 3520 |
| Motherboard | DFI Lanparty |
| Cooling | Big tower thing |
| Memory | 6 gb Ballistix Tracer |
| Video Card(s) | HD 7970 |
| Case | a plank of wood |
| Audio Device(s) | seperate amp and 6 big speakers |
| Power Supply | Corsair |
| Mouse | cheap |
| Keyboard | under going restoration |
Hubble has spotted giant plumes of water 125 miles high erupting from the surface of Europa, raising hopes it could hold life in a vast underground ocean engulfing the moon.
The new images 'indicate a global saline liquid water ocean engulfs the moon at the present time hidden under miles of ice,' NASA said.
It increases the possibility that missions to Europa may be able to sample Europa's ocean without having to drill through miles of ice.
If the finding is confirmed, Europa would be the second moon in the solar system where water plumes have been detected.
The Cassini spacecraft previously spied jets erupting from the surface of the Saturn moon Enceladus.
The plumes, photographed by NASA's Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were seen in silhouette as the moon passed in front of Jupiter. Hubble's ultraviolet sensitivity allowed for the features - rising over 100 miles (160 kilometers) above Europa's icy surface - to be discerned.
The water is believed to come from a subsurface ocean on Europa.
The Hubble data were taken on January 26, 2014.
The image of Europa, superimposed on the Hubble data, is assembled from data from the Galileo and Voyager missions.
The plumes are estimated to rise about 125 miles (200 kilometers) before, presumably, raining material back down onto Europa's surface.
Europa has a huge global ocean containing twice as much water as Earth's oceans, but it is protected by a layer of extremely cold and hard ice of unknown thickness.
The plumes provide a tantalizing opportunity to gather samples originating from under the surface without having to land or drill through the ice.
The team, led by William Sparks of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore observed these finger-like projections while viewing Europa's limb as the moon passed in front of Jupiter.
Edit @carex .....
The new images 'indicate a global saline liquid water ocean engulfs the moon at the present time hidden under miles of ice,' NASA said.
It increases the possibility that missions to Europa may be able to sample Europa's ocean without having to drill through miles of ice.
If the finding is confirmed, Europa would be the second moon in the solar system where water plumes have been detected.
The Cassini spacecraft previously spied jets erupting from the surface of the Saturn moon Enceladus.
The plumes, photographed by NASA's Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were seen in silhouette as the moon passed in front of Jupiter. Hubble's ultraviolet sensitivity allowed for the features - rising over 100 miles (160 kilometers) above Europa's icy surface - to be discerned.
The water is believed to come from a subsurface ocean on Europa.
The Hubble data were taken on January 26, 2014.
The image of Europa, superimposed on the Hubble data, is assembled from data from the Galileo and Voyager missions.
The plumes are estimated to rise about 125 miles (200 kilometers) before, presumably, raining material back down onto Europa's surface.
Europa has a huge global ocean containing twice as much water as Earth's oceans, but it is protected by a layer of extremely cold and hard ice of unknown thickness.
The plumes provide a tantalizing opportunity to gather samples originating from under the surface without having to land or drill through the ice.
The team, led by William Sparks of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore observed these finger-like projections while viewing Europa's limb as the moon passed in front of Jupiter.
Edit @carex .....