There may be mysterious volcanoes on the moon of Jupiter

The largest planet in the Solar System, Jupiter, is orbited by a whole legion of larger and larger moons. The four largest moons of the giant planet were discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei, the father of telescopic astronomical observations. Space probe studies have only revealed that the four great moons of Jupiter, Ganymedes, Io, Europa, and Callisto, are very interesting, special worlds in their own right. A recently published study concluded by computer modeling that Europa’s rock mantle is hot enough to be in a molten state, providing “ammunition” for underwater volcanism.

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This may be the deepest ocean in the Solar System

Europa is one of the four so-called Galileo moons, discovered by the famous Italian astronomer back in January 1610. In terms of size, Europa is the fourth largest moon of Jupiter, larger than the dwarf planet Pluto or Eris. While its home planet, Jupiter, is a gas giant, Europa is a rock planet similar to the innermost planet in the Solar System, Mercury, built like silicate rocks like other Earth-type planets.

One of the most interesting features of the moon with an iron core is

that an ocean averaging 90 kilometers deep could hide beneath the ice armor that covered its surface.

(By comparison, the average depth of the Earth’s ocean is around 4 kilometers at its deepest point, and the Challenger Gorge in the Mariana Trench is 11,034 meters.)

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Despite the extremely unfriendly cold on the surface of the moon, even in the equatorial zone – only around 160 degrees Celsius, there may be “hot spots” in the depths of the ocean under the ice armor, especially around the north and south poles of Europe. Geophysical Research Letters A recent study published in the scientific journal Phys.org quotes.

Even on the ground, the water near the hot spots can be pleasantly warm

New research highlights that enough heat is generated inside Europa for underwater volcanism. Computer models show that an ocean of considerable amount of liquid water can hide under thick ice armor.

(With the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, a strong water vapor ejection was observed at the south pole of the moon in 2013, which also suggests liquid water under 12-15 kilometers thick ice armor and a strong tidal phenomenon caused by the gravity of nearby Jupiter.)

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Within the Solar System, the presence of large amounts of liquid water outside the terrestrial hydrosphere is a special feature in itself, but what makes the ocean under the ice of Europe even more exciting,

that underwater volcanism may exist on its substrate, which may create so-called hot spots.

According to the model calculations performed, the silicate mantle of the moon may be hot enough to be in a plastic state, which is one of the basic conditions of volcanism.

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Most of the heat is generated around the poles, suggesting that active volcanoes are operating deep in these areas of the ice-enclosed ocean. Compared to the freezing cold of 160, – 220 degrees Celsius on the surface of the moon,

a slightly salty liquid body of ocean, already very “pleasant” at temperatures around 0 degrees Celsius,

but in areas affected by volcanism, at a certain distance from the chimneys, the water can be “enjoyable” in a terrestrial sense.

There is great anticipation ahead of the Clipper mission

All this reinforces speculations about the inferior life that is considered possible in the ocean of Europe. The U.S. space agency, NASA, plans to launch the Clipper spacecraft in 2024, which will fly quite close to Europe several times in 2030. The spacecraft will map the surface of Europa in detail, as well as the gravitational and magnetic fields of the moon.

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These measurements, in particular the detection of magnetic and gravitational anomalies

they can confirm the fact of volcanism in the depths of the European ocean.

Although the Clipper spacecraft will not have the primary task of searching for possible life traces in Europe, a more thorough mapping of the moon than ever before may confirm (or weaken) assumptions about the inferior life forms that exist on the Jupiter moon. In any case, astrobiologists are looking forward to Clipper’s mission.

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