Could Europa's Oceans Be Alive?, page 1
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Topic started on 30-6-2007 @ 07:14 AM by mikesingh
In our quest for seeking out life on Mars, we seem to have forgotten Europa, Jupiter’s fourth largest Moon. Europa has some lines and crevasses, but scarcely any of those unsightly craters or disfiguring bumps that scar most moons.

Even when Europa's surface shapes are strengthened by shadows, it's still strangely smooth for a solar system satellite. Compare Europa to Mars, which has 450 craters larger than 100 kilometers in diameter.


That may be because Europa seems to be resilient as its smooth surface may rest on a giant subterranean ocean. Detailed photos taken by the satellite Galileo leads one to believe so. Does this frozen moon contain the largest ocean in the solar system? And if so, could life exist beneath this deeply frozen surface?

Brown University planetary geologist James Head, a long-time student of Europa, says that liquid water may exist despite the frigid conditions in Jupiter's neighborhood. Europa's insides may be warmed by the interaction between Jupiter's immense gravity and the gravity of Europa and other moons.

And those surface cracks you notice on Europa probably occur when slushy ice or water wells up from below and shoulders the ice aside. Head says the upwards movement causes those ridges that parallel the cracks. Well, that’s the theory. But could these parallel lines / fissures / crevasses be something else?

So then, does the evidence of a liquid ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa indicate that this moon houses extraterrestrial life? Europa's surface is covered with frozen water at a nippy -150 C. The coldest place on Earth is Vostok at -89 C. Not much colder! So if there’s life in Vostok, what is the possibility of alien life forms inhabiting Europa’s oceans?

But don't forget that life on Earth apparently originated in water. And scientists have found life in unbelievably bizarre crannies on Earth.


And then, if Europa does harbor life, could it not have evolved into intelligent life forms after all these millennia? Take a look at Europa’s surface in the pic below. Resembles a nice little cityscape like downtown LA!! Did I mean it’s a city of aliens? No! But it looks fascinating all the same!



Enlarged.


Images courtesy: JPL/NASA

Cheers!

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