Jun 1, 2021 03:59 AM
(This post was last modified: Jun 1, 2021 04:00 AM by C C.)
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/volcanoes-...oon-europa
EXCERPTS: Europa seems like a hostile place. [...] but its frozen face might be hiding unexpected warmth deep inside. Far below the miles of ice and rocks that make up Europa’s crust, its subsurface ocean could be bubbling with volcanic activity that may have been going on for as long as 4.5 billion years.
This might have made Europa’s subsurface ocean a place for life (at least as we know it) to thrive without being exposed to harsh radiation and other hazards of crawling on the surface. It also made geophysicist Marie Běhounková, of Charles University in the Czech Republic, wonder how likely it is that Europa is heated by molten magma in places beyond the reach of the Sun.
[...] With the Jovian moon Io being the most volcanic world in the solar system, since the interior gets fired up with Jupiter and possibly its other moons continuously pulling at it, Europa could be similarly affected. Běhounková and her team had their doubts because Europa is further away from Jupiter than the temperamental Io. To see if it is possible that gravity from the gas giant and its other moons could still play into making Europa volcanic, they created models that simulated how the inside of the moon evolved since its birth.
[...] “Magmatic activity can continue during most of Europa's history even though it progressively decays as the interior cools down,” she said...
[...] ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will find out whether Europa really does have volcanoes, and possibly some extraterrestrial form of life, after they take off for the moon where it is always winter. That would be next year for JUICE and 2024 for Europa Clipper... (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: Europa seems like a hostile place. [...] but its frozen face might be hiding unexpected warmth deep inside. Far below the miles of ice and rocks that make up Europa’s crust, its subsurface ocean could be bubbling with volcanic activity that may have been going on for as long as 4.5 billion years.
This might have made Europa’s subsurface ocean a place for life (at least as we know it) to thrive without being exposed to harsh radiation and other hazards of crawling on the surface. It also made geophysicist Marie Běhounková, of Charles University in the Czech Republic, wonder how likely it is that Europa is heated by molten magma in places beyond the reach of the Sun.
[...] With the Jovian moon Io being the most volcanic world in the solar system, since the interior gets fired up with Jupiter and possibly its other moons continuously pulling at it, Europa could be similarly affected. Běhounková and her team had their doubts because Europa is further away from Jupiter than the temperamental Io. To see if it is possible that gravity from the gas giant and its other moons could still play into making Europa volcanic, they created models that simulated how the inside of the moon evolved since its birth.
[...] “Magmatic activity can continue during most of Europa's history even though it progressively decays as the interior cools down,” she said...
[...] ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will find out whether Europa really does have volcanoes, and possibly some extraterrestrial form of life, after they take off for the moon where it is always winter. That would be next year for JUICE and 2024 for Europa Clipper... (MORE - details)