Jupiter's moon Europa is getting salty

Astronomers have confirmed that there is salt on the surface of Jupiter's moon.

The most likely source of this salt is a huge ocean of liquid water under the surface of the moon. The density indicates that it is made of a mix of rock, most likely in the form of a rocky core with some iron and nickel at the very center. The moon may not go all the way down to its core due to Jupiter's high tides. There are various ways in which the ocean can get up to the surface.

There was evidence of table salt on the surface of the planet. The moon's surface was taken using Hubble and there was a weird feature at a wavelength around 450 nanometers. They irradiated table salt to mimic exposure to Jupiter's radiation environment, as it would be onEuropa's surface. They were able to see it absorbed light at 450 nm.

The new news is that they found another absorption feature, this one in the ultraviolet, after following up with more spectrum. This feature can be seen in their lab-zapped salt, which supports the idea that they are seeing on the show. It has been seen in the same places on the moon.

This is pretty much confirmed according to me. It's not perfect but it's convincing.

This is cool. We don't know much about the ocean under the ice. The ocean floor is in contact with the rocky core ofEuropa. The ocean water has minerals in it that make it salty. It's likely that the same thing will happen underEuropa.

There is a belief that tidal squeezing from Jupiter can cause cracks in the core of the planet. If that sounds familiar, you should look up the vent on Earth. Chemicals are noxious to humans but deep-sea creatures like them. If these vents exist on Europa, they are a great place to find alien fishies.

That is very fascinating.

It will take a long time before we get any evidence for or against the creatures. NASA is currently building a mission called Europa Clipper, which is designed to go to Jupiter and look at it for potential habitability. To see if the conditions are suitable for life. Exploring the interior ocean is a whole other level of difficulty and will be planned for a future mission. We will learn a lot about the Earth-Moon-sized moon.

In the meantime, continuing to observe Europa from Earth will help inform the mission itself, which has a planned launch in late 2024 for a 2030. Europa is an amazing place with a lot to offer. I am looking forward to seeing the images from Clipper and learning from them.