Water plumes over Europa |
Water plumes over Europa |
Dec 12 2013, 04:55 PM
Post
#1
|
|
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.
-------------------- |
|
|
Sep 20 2016, 10:44 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1452 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
NASA to Hold Media Call on Evidence of Surprising Activity on Europa
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-...vity-on-europa/ QUOTE NASA will host a teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 26, to present new findings from images captured by the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa.
Astronomers will present results from a unique Europa observing campaign that resulted in surprising evidence of activity that may be related to the presence of a subsurface ocean on Europa. -------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
|
|
|
Sep 22 2016, 01:07 AM
Post
#3
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
NASA to Hold Media Call on Evidence of Surprising Activity on Europa The headline has intriguing hints. Watery plumes were seen in the past, but appeared to be intermittent. If they had another burst of activity comparable to those seen in the past, it would not be "surprising." So what is up? It is also hinted that the observations were made during a unique observational opportunity. Europa doesn't have seasons, so the only kinds of unique opportunities that I can think of would be eclipses and transits (not that unusual) and stellar occultations (unusual). The latter would allow, probably, better observations of composition than could be made from reflected sunlight. Jupiter and Ganymede were predicted to occult a 7th-magnitude star on April 12, but Europa was not. Perhaps the plume did? Europa was slightly north of the Jupiter-Ganymede line of sight on that date, so that's what I'm betting on: That the plume was detected at a significant distance from Europa, perhaps even several Europa radii away. However the evidence was gained, what could be unusual? The plumes could perhaps have been much more active than in the previous observations, occurring in more places other than the south polar region, or be much larger, or perhaps the composition reveals something more than what was seen last time. If it was that April 12 occultation, then the size of the plume would be part of the answer: It would be monstrous compared to the previous observations. That's all the detective work I can muster until Monday. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 21st September 2024 - 06:14 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |