Space
The Cracked Moon, Europa, May Have Ice and Life-Giving Compounds in Its Crinkles
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Oct 27, 2015 05:16 PM EDT
Scientists are probing the mysteries of Jupiter's moon, Europa. Now, researchers have found that the scarred, jumbled areas that make up Europa's so-called "chaos terrain" may harbor icy and compounds that may indicate life.
"We have known for a long time that Europa's fresh icy surface, which is covered with cracks and ridges and transform faults, is the external signature of a vast internal salty ocean," said Mike Brown, one of the researchers, in a news release.
Directly sampling Europa's ocean, though, remains a technological challenge for the future. However, it may be possible to sample deposits left behind in the chaos areas. These areas, which are signatures of vast ice plates that have broken apart, may have samples from the ocean beneath.
"This could tell us much about activity at the boundary of the rocky core and the ocean," said Brown.
In this latest study, the researchers took a new look at data from observations made in 2011 at the W.M. Keck telescope in Hawaii using the OSIRIS spectrograph. Spectrographs break down light into its component parts and then measure their frequencies. This, in turn, can be used to identify the chemical composition of Europa's surface minerals by observing the reflected light.
In the end, the researchers found three compositionally distinct categories of spectra. The first was water ice, which dominates Europa's surface. The second was chemicals formed when ionized sulfur and oxygen bombarded the surface of Europa and reacted with native ices. The third was more confusing since it did not match any expected indicators. What was interesting, though, was that this third category overlaid the chaos terrain. However, the composition of this category is still unclear.
The findings reveal a bit more about Europa and show that taking samples from this area may reveal a bit more about this icy moon.
The findings are published in the Astronomical Journal.
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First Posted: Oct 27, 2015 05:16 PM EDT
Scientists are probing the mysteries of Jupiter's moon, Europa. Now, researchers have found that the scarred, jumbled areas that make up Europa's so-called "chaos terrain" may harbor icy and compounds that may indicate life.
"We have known for a long time that Europa's fresh icy surface, which is covered with cracks and ridges and transform faults, is the external signature of a vast internal salty ocean," said Mike Brown, one of the researchers, in a news release.
Directly sampling Europa's ocean, though, remains a technological challenge for the future. However, it may be possible to sample deposits left behind in the chaos areas. These areas, which are signatures of vast ice plates that have broken apart, may have samples from the ocean beneath.
"This could tell us much about activity at the boundary of the rocky core and the ocean," said Brown.
In this latest study, the researchers took a new look at data from observations made in 2011 at the W.M. Keck telescope in Hawaii using the OSIRIS spectrograph. Spectrographs break down light into its component parts and then measure their frequencies. This, in turn, can be used to identify the chemical composition of Europa's surface minerals by observing the reflected light.
In the end, the researchers found three compositionally distinct categories of spectra. The first was water ice, which dominates Europa's surface. The second was chemicals formed when ionized sulfur and oxygen bombarded the surface of Europa and reacted with native ices. The third was more confusing since it did not match any expected indicators. What was interesting, though, was that this third category overlaid the chaos terrain. However, the composition of this category is still unclear.
The findings reveal a bit more about Europa and show that taking samples from this area may reveal a bit more about this icy moon.
The findings are published in the Astronomical Journal.
Related Stories
NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Takes Its Last Journey
New Simulation of the Evolution of the Universe is the Most Detailed Yet
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone