2000-08-25 | SCIENCE, MISSIONS, TECHNOLOGIES
Strong evidence of ocean of water on Europa
Magnetic measurments taken by the Galileo spacecraft bolster the evidence that a large ocean of liquid water lies below the ice-encrusted surface of Europa, a moon of Jupiter.
Flying past Europa in January, Galileo's magnetometer instrument found that, near Europa, Jupiter's magnetic field changes direction every 5 and a half hours. These rapid fluctuations indicate that an electric current is flowing through Europa.
It is doubtful that the current is traveling through Europa's icy crust, since solid ice conducts electricity poorly. However, salty water (such as seawater on Earth) conducts electricity fairly well.
Scientist Dr. Margaret Kivelson of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), announced her preliminary findings shortly after the January flyby. Her complete analysis is published in today's edition of the journal Science.
Other evidence of water on Europa includes iceberg-like formations, suggesting that blocks of ice briefly bobbed in a liquid ocean until the ice refroze; and long cycloid cracks in the ice caused by the tidal pull of Jupiter.
Any life in the universe will probably require liquid water. The likely presence of an ocean makes Europa a prime target in the search for life elsewhere in the solar system.
Galileo found similar magnetic fluctuations on Callisto, another ice-encrusted moon of Jupiter, during a 1997 flyby. The findings suggest that there may be an ocean of water on Callisto as well.
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from NASA, Aug 25, 2000
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