NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope took direct ultraviolet images of the icy moon Europa transiting across the disk of Jupiter.
Out of ten observations, Hubble saw what may be water vapor plumes on three of the images. This adds another piece of supporting evidence to the existence of water vapor plumes on Europa – Hubble also detected spectroscopic signatures of water vapor in 2012.
The existence of water vapor plumes could provide a future Europa flyby mission the opportunity to study the conditions and habitability of Europa’s subsurface ocean.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Katrina Jackson
Music: “Next Generation” by Enrico Cacace [BMI]; Atmosphere Music Ltd PRS; Volta Music; Killer Tracks Production Music
For more information: http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-hubble-spots-possible-water-plumes-erupting-on-jupiters-moon-europa
Read the science paper at http://hubblesite.org/pubinfo/pdf/2016/33/pdf.pdf
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