Water plumes over Europa |
Water plumes over Europa |
Dec 12 2013, 04:55 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 401 Joined: 5-January 07 From: Manchester England Member No.: 1563 |
This seems like the relevant place to post this (could be wrong): Water plumes from Europa? Apologies if it's already been up. The link to the Science article at the bottom doesn't work for me, does anyone have a working link to the original? Cheers.
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Dec 22 2014, 06:03 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 495 Joined: 12-February 12 Member No.: 6336 |
Despite the result from the Hubble telescope, a check of old data by Cassini failed to reveal any plumes at Europa.
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Dec 23 2014, 04:21 AM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 202 Joined: 9-September 08 Member No.: 4334 |
Despite the result from the Hubble telescope, a check of old data by Cassini failed to reveal any plumes at Europa. That looks like it's only for one brief period (the flyby), though, right? So that doesn't really cast doubt on the Hubble results since it's not for the same time -- does it? |
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Dec 24 2014, 06:19 AM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 715 Joined: 22-April 05 Member No.: 351 |
That looks like it's only for one brief period (the flyby), though, right? So that doesn't really cast doubt on the Hubble results since it's not for the same time -- does it? I only read the press accounts on this paper, but with that in mind: If plumes are a regular occurrence, then there should be enhanced plasma or gas cloud centered on Europa's orbit. This study used Cassini's observations to look for such a cloud and didn't find it. However, at least one other group doesn't think that the Cassini measurements would be conclusive and reportedly are working on a rebuttal. I've been following this subject since the first announcement. One thing to keep in mind is that the Hubble measurements were at the limit of detection, and every subsequent analysis has emphasized that the plumes might not have existed. If they did exist, it is possible that the occur infrequently. In an analogy that I've read from the science teams that have looked at this, each of Io's volcanoes erupts infrequently. Because Io is so extremely heated by Jupiter's gravitational tug, there's usually some volcano going off. Even so, there are periods of much greater and much less volcanic activity. By this reasoning, the lesser gravitational tug on Europa might create plumes only in limited areas and there might be months or years or more between eruptions. It may be that we'll have to wait for JUICE to arrive to get definitive answers. The one solid recommendation from the Europa Clipper Science Definition Team is that a mission oriented towards Europa plumes is very premature to consider, but that the Clipper mission should carry a suite of instruments that could search for and study plumes (much like the broad range of instruments on Cassini has allowed detailed studies of the totally unexpected Enceladus plumes). -------------------- |
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