Space & Astronomy
Icy lakes found on Europa
By
T.K. RandallNovember 17, 2011 ·
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 |
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