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Space & Astronomy

Icy lakes found on Europa

By T.K. Randall
November 17, 2011 · Comment icon 30 comments

Image Credit: NASA
Scientists have discovered large frozen lakes near the surface of Jupiter's frozen moon Europa.
It has long been thought that a liquid ocean exists beneath Europa's icy shell, but now evidence has been found to suggest that some of that water has upwelled towards the surface and frozen in vast lakes. The find is particularly interesting because these lakes would be a prime location to look for extraterrestrial life in the solar system.
The water could represent a potential habitat for life, and many more such lakes might exist throughout the shallow regions of Europa's shell, lead author Britney Schmidt, a postdoctoral fellow at The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics, writes in the journal Nature.


Source: PhysOrg.com | Comments (30)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #21 Posted by Nuke_em 13 years ago
And scientists answer we don't know. We hope it's fairly common. We'd like to find life. Even if it's relatively rare... there are more stars than grains of sand. There's a good chance that there are more planets even than that. Even if it's rare, life is almost certainly out there. As you might know if you ever actually look to see what the scientists are saying. I agree but right now they will probably deny any life execpt us. It doesnt go well with our accident theory. They want proof ( the scientist community ) but it is impossible to do so, first we need to "probe" our solar system planet... [More]
Comment icon #22 Posted by Bavarian Raven 13 years ago
No, seriously both are good candidates for life, and I want to add and stress here, as we know it.I like Titan mostly due to it's atmosphere and liquid methane lakes, as well as being the onlyplanet we have regular audio recordings for. i do agree though, methane-based life would be wicked ' The scientists keep looking for life and the poor taxpayers are given the bills for these searches which amount to tens of billions of dollars. OF course, the scientists benefit from these programs in high salaries and benefits. And they keep justifying the spending of these billions by telling the tax pay... [More]
Comment icon #23 Posted by ShadowSot 13 years ago
The scientists keep looking for life and the poor taxpayers are given the bills for these searches which amount to tens of billions of dollars. OF course, the scientists benefit from these programs in high salaries and benefits. And they keep justifying the spending of these billions by telling the tax payers again and again life is possible. And they justify it by claiming their phoney math and statistics prove that life in space does exist. In my opinion life does esist on Mars as was shown by photos taken of the planet in 1955 showing it covered with vegetation and a blue atmosphere, but th... [More]
Comment icon #24 Posted by Mike 215 13 years ago
The next space probe to Mars will cost over one billion dollars. It does not seem that NASA is suffering. Notice how fast the scientists denounced that face on Mars taken in 1970s. They went to great length to photoshop picture after picture until they thought the found a way to prove it did not resemble a face. It took years, but the finally accomplished their goal. Let us say they found the picture was real. How would people, and indeed institutions, react to such a discovery? Start wth the religions.
Comment icon #25 Posted by The Silver Thong 13 years ago
The next space probe to Mars will cost over one billion dollars. It does not seem that NASA is suffering. Notice how fast the scientists denounced that face on Mars taken in 1970s. They went to great length to photoshop picture after picture until they thought the found a way to prove it did not resemble a face. It took years, but the finally accomplished their goal. Let us say they found the picture was real. How would people, and indeed institutions, react to such a discovery? Start wth the religions. LOl to funny that you dismiss facts for fiction. The face on mars is a mountian. Did you ha... [More]
Comment icon #26 Posted by Bavarian Raven 13 years ago
The face on mars is a mountian of course it is... it would be too "big" of a thing to hide otherwise, anyways
Comment icon #27 Posted by randym23 13 years ago
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE And so on, to quote the novel 2010: Odyssey two. yes! love that movie!
Comment icon #28 Posted by JJsDietFitness 13 years ago
I would love to see that probe make it to Europa with the little submarine...
Comment icon #29 Posted by Erikl 13 years ago
So, any speculations regarding how life on Europa could look like? It's quite obvious the following is ture: The Ice is as hard as granite, and probably continues for miles down until met with warm ocean of water (with acids, salts whatever). For any life forms, the outer ice would look like another surface - so technically whatever life evolved there would consider Europa a "world of two surfaces", a closed world with no knowledge that anything exist outside. These life forms would not be based on photosynthesis as the distance from the sun coupled with a thick layer of ice will make sure it'... [More]
Comment icon #30 Posted by Bavarian Raven 13 years ago
The Ice is as hard as granite, and probably continues for miles down until met with warm ocean of water (with acids, salts whatever). i'd wager it is at least a mile thick 2. For any life forms, the outer ice would look like another surface - so technically whatever life evolved there would consider Europa a "world of two surfaces", a closed world with no knowledge that anything exist outside. probably, though a bit more unlikely, unless its intelligent enough to reason out there must be other "worlds/regions" out there (-- gotta dream, yes? ) These life forms would not be based on photosynthe... [More]


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