New evidence pretty much confirms the existence of a liquid ocean on Jupiter's moon.
Remember the Hubble telescope? Even though it was built with SNES-era technology, it's working just fine (much like your SNES, I bet). Recently, scientists have been using the massive device to plumb the depths of our own solar system. The moons of Jupiter have always been interesting candidates for life and habitation. Now there's new evidence that Europa has a subsurface ocean, as the Hubble has reportedly captured images of huge geysers of water on its south pole that might reach more than 100 miles high into the cold, thin atmosphere.
Scientists have long suspected the existence of an ocean hidden under the surface of Europa, and an obvious tell-tale sign like this pretty much gives it away. "If there's a geyser 200 kilometers tall, and you could fly a spacecraft through it and sample the water coming out from Europa, that would be phenomenal," said NASA's John Grunsfeld. "What if there are organics in it? That's getting to the question of 'Are we alone in the universe?'"
This isn't the first time the Hubble's looked at Europa. Earlier last year, all that it saw were the occasional spots of hydrogen and oxygen. The leading theory is that huge tidal forces from Jupiter's enormous gravity are the cause behind these spectacular displays. Strong evidence like this do a lot to bump Europa up on the list of candidates for future robotic missions, assuming they could get the funding.
"If there's a geyser 200 kilometers tall, and you could fly a spacecraft through it and sample the water coming out from Europa, that would be phenomenal," said NASA's John Grunsfeld. "What if there are organics in it? That's getting to the question of 'Are we alone in the universe?'"
Well, hop to it then John! We've all got less than a lifetime left to live and knowing how long these probes take to build, launch and travel, I'd like to see some real aliens (even if they're only tiny ones) before my time on this planet is up!
This is very good news, I assume. Can we now start planing an unmanned mission to Europa? You know to do something constructive instead of wasting money on wars and shitty TV.
I have to assume I'm wrong here, judging by everyone else's responses, but didn't we already know about this? I mean this is still fairly news worthy since it's so exceptionally high of a geyser, but I could have swore I remember watching a show that talked about Jupiters moons and mentioning this one, they talked about it's geysers, some of which can be seen from space.
"If there's a geyser 200 kilometers tall, and you could fly a spacecraft through it and sample the water coming out from Europa, that would be phenomenal," said NASA's John Grunsfeld. "What if there are organics in it? That's getting to the question of 'Are we alone in the universe?'"
Well, hop to it then John! We've all got less than a lifetime left to live and knowing how long these probes take to build, launch and travel, I'd like to see some real aliens (even if they're only tiny ones) before my time on this planet is up!
What we need is a joyride that fires you into it in a life jacket with a parachute in it.
They've been planning a mission there for years now. Previous missions included a drill of sorts to go through the ice in to the Oceans we already anticipated before releasing a sort of "Alvin" probe to explore. But still, that's pretty cool.
Two teams of astronomers have discovered the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the universe. The water, equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water in the world's ocean, surrounds a huge, feeding black hole, called a quasar, more than 12 billion light-years away.
Two teams of astronomers have discovered the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the universe. The water, equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water in the world's ocean, surrounds a huge, feeding black hole, called a quasar, more than 12 billion light-years away.
I think "amazing" isn't a strong enough word for that. That's beyond amazing. That's downright incredible! News like that and in the article is stuff that makes me wonder if the universe is deliberately trolling us.
"If there's a geyser 200 kilometers tall, and you could fly a spacecraft through it and sample the water coming out from Europa, that would be phenomenal," said NASA's John Grunsfeld. "What if there are organics in it? That's getting to the question of 'Are we alone in the universe?'"
Well, hop to it then John! We've all got less than a lifetime left to live and knowing how long these probes take to build, launch and travel, I'd like to see some real aliens (even if they're only tiny ones) before my time on this planet is up!
He cant. The funding has been cut. Thank the military spending.
"If there's a geyser 200 kilometers tall, and you could fly a spacecraft through it and sample the water coming out from Europa, that would be phenomenal," said NASA's John Grunsfeld. "What if there are organics in it? That's getting to the question of 'Are we alone in the universe?'"
Well, hop to it then John! We've all got less than a lifetime left to live and knowing how long these probes take to build, launch and travel, I'd like to see some real aliens (even if they're only tiny ones) before my time on this planet is up!
He cant. The funding has been cut. Thank the military spending.
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NASA can't, but other space agencies might. Eh, not like the US would gain any national pride from leading the space race into the future or anything.
Well, hop to it then John! We've all got less than a lifetime left to live and knowing how long these probes take to build, launch and travel, I'd like to see some real aliens (even if they're only tiny ones) before my time on this planet is up!
He cant. The funding has been cut. Thank the military spending.
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NASA can't, but other space agencies might. Eh, not like the US would gain any national pride from leading the space race into the future or anything.
Yes, but he was telling "NASA's John Grunsfeld" to do it. Its not like he wouldnt want to, he jut cant afford it. ALso by the looks of things China of all things are going head first into space now. Granted a lot of what they do is secret but from what reports we had they are very close to western capabilities now.
