Friday, December 13, 2013

Hubble Discovers Water Plumes Erupting from Europa

Hubble Discovers Water Plumes Erupting from Europa:
UV observations from Hubble show the size of water vapor plumes coming from Europa's south pole (NASA, ESA, and M. Kornmesser)
Hubble Discovers Water Plumes Erupting from Europa
UV observations from Hubble show the size of water vapor plumes coming from Europa’s south pole (Artist’s impression. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Kornmesser)
It’s been known since 2005 that Saturn’s 300-mile-wide moon Enceladus has geysers spewing ice and dust out into orbit from deep troughs that rake across its south pole. Now, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, we know of another moon with similar jets: Europa, the ever-enigmatic ice-shelled moon of Jupiter. This makes two places in our Solar System where subsurface oceans could be getting sprayed directly into space — and within easy reach of any passing spacecraft.
The findings were announced today during the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
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© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. |Permalink |One comment |
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