Scientists thought Jupiter's moon Europa was ejecting water. Now they're not so sure
Yahoo • • science
Key Points:
- New analysis of 14 years of Hubble Space Telescope data raises doubts about the previously suggested existence of water vapor plumes on Jupiter's moon Europa.
- Initial detections of faint plumes, thought to originate from Europa's subsurface saltwater ocean, are now considered less certain due to potential data noise and positioning errors.
- The confidence in the plume detections has dropped from 99.9% to less than 90%, leading scientists to reconsider earlier conclusions about Europa's water vapor eruptions.
- Despite the uncertainty, researchers cannot completely rule out the presence of plumes, especially given similar phenomena observed on Saturn’s moon Enceladus and volcanic activity on Jupiter’s moon Io.
- NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission, set to arrive in 2030, is expected to provide definitive answers about Europa’s plumes and its subsurface ocean.