Best Evidence Yet For Water Plumes Erupting Off Europa

Hubble also saw water vapor erupting from Europa, shown here in an artist illustration with real images but enhanced ejecta. (Credit: NASA/ESA/and M. Kornmesser) Score another point for Jupiter’s moon Europa as a top target in the hunt for alien life. In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists say they’ve found the best evidence yet that plumes of water erupt from an ocean hidden beneath the moon’s icy shell. The Hubble Space Telescope had found signs of similar activity several times, but there was initially some debate surrounding those results. Astronomers made this latest breakthrough by digging through decades-old data collected by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft — the last mission to visit Europa. And the results strengthen the case for finally sending a spacecraft to return to Europa and fly through these water plumes, sampling what’s inside them in search of insights into the chances of life ...