Of all the planets in our solar system, Jupiter is the largest. It also has as many as 79 large and small moons orbiting it.
Of these moons, Europe is the fourth largest, but is slightly smaller than the Earth’s moon. This moon has already received the researchers’ attention with a view to research on possible extraterrestrial life, writes NRK.
– It is really exciting to imagine that life has a chance here, says senior author of the study, Dustin Schroeder in a press release.
Compared to the Greenland ice sheet
I a new study Schroeder and his team of researchers at Stanford University conclude that in our solar system there is the best chance of finding other life on the moon Europe.
This image from Nasa shows Europe’s icy surface. Photo: Nasa / Reuters / NTB
—-
The study, published in Nature Communications, writes that the ocean on the moon Europe can hold life.
They come to the conclusion by comparing the moon with the Greenland ice sheet.
Europe is covered by giant parallel height formations similar to those seen on Greenland’s ice surface.
These “ice ridges” in Greenland, the researchers believe, were formed when shallow pools of water below the surface froze and cracked the surface again and again, and eventually these ridges formed.
Researchers now believe the same thing may have happened in Europe.
Can transport nutrients and circulate oxygen
If this is true, the researchers believe that it suggests that shallow water pockets must have been, or perhaps still are, common in the thick ice shell of the moon floating on an ocean that is estimated to be between 60-150 kilometers deep.
These pockets of water can help carry the nutrients needed for life down to the salty sea. This flow can also help circulate oxygen, the researchers believe.
Both nutrients and oxygen are needed for it to form life.
—
