NASA finds more evidence of water plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1026-nasa-finds-more-evidence-of-water-plumes-on-jupiter-s-moon-europa

NASA has discovered more evidence that water erupts from beneath the surface of Europa, one of the many moons of Jupiter.

A team from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) made the observations using the Hubble Space Telescope. The team announced that the full findings will be published in the Astrophysical Journal on September 29th.

NASA believes Europa’s ocean could have Earth-like qualities that we know to be beneficial to life. But Europa’s surface is thought to be miles thick, which would make it hard to directly measure that ocean.

Image Credits: Verge

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) team watched Europa travel across the face of Jupiter on 10 different occasions over a period of 15 months, starting in December of 2013. During three of those transits, the team captured what appeared to be plumes of water vapor erupting from near the icy moon’s South Pole.

The space agency is in the early stages of drafting a mission to Europa in the 2020s that would involve putting a spacecraft in a long, looping orbit around Jupiter to make close flybys of the ice-encrusted world.

 

#ICYMI: Possible water plumes spotted by @NASA_Hubble erupting on Jupiter's moon Europa: https://t.co/ZgHaQpUCLb pic.twitter.com/hgs50tFdGp

— NASA (@NASA) September 27, 2016

NASA already plans to send a spacecraft known as the Europa Clipper — to the icy moon in the 2020s. The agency has said it won’t send the Clipper through these plumes like the Cassini spacecraft did when it studied Enceladus. But a proposed lander, or even a second orbiter (which would fly closer to Europa than the Clipper), could tag along and directly measure these plumes for evidence of life.

STScI team announced that full findings will be published in the Astrophysical Journal on September 29th.