Is Europe inhabited?
The results of recent studies of one of the moons of Jupiter.
The appearance of Europe is unlikely to seem friendly to you - the average temperature is −162 degrees Celsius, the atmosphere is almost absent, the ice surface is disfigured by cracks. But under a layer of ice, the thickness of which is almost 9 times the maximum depth of the world’s ocean, it is possible that the sea is hiding.
In our solar system there are only 4 places where, presumably, life can exist. These are cosmic bodies with high geological activity - our Earth, Europe, Triton (Neptune’s moon) and Io - another satellite of Jupiter.
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Scientists were greatly surprised when they noticed streams of water and ice spurting from faults on the surface of Europe. Now the task of scientists is to find the newly formed faults and compare them with the old ones.
Disputes about the exact thickness of the ice layer do not subside - the figures are called and 30 kilometers, someone believes that a lot less. A common point of view is 95 kilometers. This means that Europe, which is almost the size of the Moon, contains more water than our entire Earth.
The satellite of Jupiter, moving in its orbit, then approaches, then moves away from the giant planet, as a result - the level of gravity changes. That is why faults form in Europe and hit geysers. The same phenomenon was recently observed on Enceladus, the satellite of Saturn.
Just ten years ago, such hypotheses of scientists about the possibility of life in the ice of Europe would be simply impossible. But after the living bacteria were found in the most unfavorable conditions for them (though only on Earth so far), careful assumptions about similar phenomena occurring in space followed.
Incredibly, the internal processes of Europe may be similar to those occurring in our oceans. So in the waters of the satellite of Jupiter is not impossible habitat of living organisms that have adapted to the harsh conditions.
Europe has already made adjustments to the NASA program. Specialists face an important question - where to send the next mission? It is likely that the space agency will now concentrate on studying Europe, but even if this is not the case in the foreseeable future, the groundwork has already been laid.
Translation specifically for magov.net - Kirill Levin
It’s not so clear to me why you are missing karma, then there are three topics, write somewhere.
The appearance of Europe is unlikely to seem friendly to you - the average temperature is −162 degrees Celsius, the atmosphere is almost absent, the ice surface is disfigured by cracks. But under a layer of ice, the thickness of which is almost 9 times the maximum depth of the world’s ocean, it is possible that the sea is hiding.
In our solar system there are only 4 places where, presumably, life can exist. These are cosmic bodies with high geological activity - our Earth, Europe, Triton (Neptune’s moon) and Io - another satellite of Jupiter.
')
Scientists were greatly surprised when they noticed streams of water and ice spurting from faults on the surface of Europe. Now the task of scientists is to find the newly formed faults and compare them with the old ones.
Disputes about the exact thickness of the ice layer do not subside - the figures are called and 30 kilometers, someone believes that a lot less. A common point of view is 95 kilometers. This means that Europe, which is almost the size of the Moon, contains more water than our entire Earth.
The satellite of Jupiter, moving in its orbit, then approaches, then moves away from the giant planet, as a result - the level of gravity changes. That is why faults form in Europe and hit geysers. The same phenomenon was recently observed on Enceladus, the satellite of Saturn.
Just ten years ago, such hypotheses of scientists about the possibility of life in the ice of Europe would be simply impossible. But after the living bacteria were found in the most unfavorable conditions for them (though only on Earth so far), careful assumptions about similar phenomena occurring in space followed.
Incredibly, the internal processes of Europe may be similar to those occurring in our oceans. So in the waters of the satellite of Jupiter is not impossible habitat of living organisms that have adapted to the harsh conditions.
Europe has already made adjustments to the NASA program. Specialists face an important question - where to send the next mission? It is likely that the space agency will now concentrate on studying Europe, but even if this is not the case in the foreseeable future, the groundwork has already been laid.
Translation specifically for magov.net - Kirill Levin
It’s not so clear to me why you are missing karma, then there are three topics, write somewhere.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/37123/
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