NASA Sees a 'Platypus' Move on Jupiter's Moon Europa

 In an incredible discovery, NASA's Juno spacecraft has captured an astonishing image of Jupiter's moon, Europa, showcasing apparent movement in its icy crust. This extraordinary sighting has sent ripples through the scientific community, sparking curiosity and excitement about what lies beneath Europa's frozen exterior.

Europa's icy shell appears to be moving. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI)

What is it?: Europa, Jupiter's fourth-largest moon.


Location: About 417,000 miles (671,000 kilometers) from Jupiter and 500 million miles (805 million km) from the sun.


It was shared on May 19, 2024.


Why it's so special: Slightly smaller than Earth's moon, Europa exhibits characteristics more akin to a planet. It boasts a magnetic field, a tenuous oxygen atmosphere, and a liquid iron core. Beneath its 11-mile (18 km) thick icy shell lies a vast salty ocean, making Europa a leading contender in discovering extraterrestrial life.


  • Recent imagery from Juno, NASA's spacecraft orbiting Jupiter since 2016, provides compelling evidence that this subsurface ocean may interact with the surface. Juno's ultra-sensitive Stellar Reference Unit captured a high-resolution image during a close flyby on September 29, 2022, when the spacecraft was just 220 miles (355 km) from Europa's ice shell.

  • The black-and-white image, taken during Europa's night and illuminated only by light reflected from Jupiter, revealed a fascinating feature nicknamed "the Platypus" (highlighted in a yellow box). This chaotic terrain, measuring 23 miles by 42 miles (37 km by 67 km), contains hummocks, ridges, ice blocks, and dark reddish-brown material. Scientists believe this area, the youngest in the region imaged, is where Europa's ice shell allows pockets of saltwater from the moon's ocean to pool.

  • Above "The Platypus," approximately 31 miles (50 km) to the north, lies a double ridge running east-west (blue box) with possible stains around it. These stains might be deposits from plumes of saltwater rising to Europa's surface from its underground ocean.
  • Juno's close flyby also captured four visible-light images using JunoCam, showing that Europa's icy crust at the north and south poles has shifted. This suggests that Europa's ice shell is free-floating and mobile.


A view of Europa captured by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 2000 (Image credit: ASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

  • Juno's mission will conclude in 2025, but Europa's exploration is far from over. NASA's Europa Clipper, set to launch later this year and arrive in 2030, aims to conduct detailed reconnaissance of Europa's ice shell and subsurface ocean. Additionally, the European Space Agency's Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), launched in 2023, will arrive in 2031 to explore three of Jupiter's moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa.

BY:- Ranjan Kumar

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"NASA's Artemis Mission Faces Delays, Prioritizing Safety Above All" 🛰🌕🌌

Image
"The Artemis 2 Lunar Fly-By Now Set for September 2025, Moon Landing Pushed to September 2026" NASA, a pioneer in space exploration, announced on Tuesday that its Artemis mission is experiencing delays due to safety concerns. Initially slated for November 2024, the Artemis 2 lunar fly-by is now scheduled for liftoff in September 2025, with the Artemis 3 Moon landing pushed to September 2026. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson underscored that prioritizing safety is paramount, and the choice to postpone launch dates was taken to guarantee a safe and successful mission. The setbacks are attributed to various factors, including spacesuit development and the need for SpaceX's Starship to be tested before its involvement in the mission. Amit Kshatriya, Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA's Moon to Mars Program, highlighted challenges such as unexpected issues with the Artemis 1 test flight's heat shield and identified flaws in the design of the Artemis 3 Orion craft
Read more

🌌 NASA on High Alert! Massive 500-ft Space Rock (Asteroid 2023 VD6) on Collision Course with Earth at Mind-Boggling Speed! 🚀💥

Image
  The cosmos is staging a celestial drama as NASA sounds the alarm bells, tracking a colossal asteroid hurtling towards Earth at an astonishing 55,680 km/h. Brace yourselves as we delve into the details of this humongous space rock, Asteroid 2023 VD6, and unravel the cosmic dance unfolding in the vast expanse of our solar system. Asteroid 2023 VD6: A Gargantuan Visitor 🌠 This mammoth, building-sized celestial body, part of the Apollo group, is making a close encounter with Earth today, December 23, 2023, at a mere 2.53 million miles away. Zooming through space at breakneck speed, it completes an orbit around the Sun in just 1,378 days. 🚀 Details about its trajectory reveal a gripping narrative—its aphelion at a staggering 610 million kilometers and perihelion at 115 million kilometers. According to experts at the-sky.org, please mark your calendars for another rendezvous on May 03, 2039, when it will come within 9.83 million kilometers of our planet. Apollo Asteroids: Cosmic Wonders
Read more

Could there be a black hole inside the sun 🌞?

Image
 Imagine our sun, the source of life, collapsing into a black hole or devoured by a wandering cosmic wanderer. Brace yourselves – the end might be closer than we think! If a massive black hole swallowed our sun, we'd have a mere eight minutes before everything changed. But what if it's a small primordial black hole? Now, that's a twist worth exploring. Primordial black holes, born in the universe's infancy, are hypothetical entities, smaller than a baseball and as massive as an asteroid. They play a role in theoretical models explaining mysteries from dark matter to the enigmatic Planet X. Enter Hawking stars – stars with a black hole at their core. New research delves into the consequences of a sun-like star capturing a primordial black hole. Initially harmless due to its minuscule mass, it could reshape the star's fate and lead to its demise over time. The study emphasizes that the outcome depends on the primordial black hole's initial size. If it falls within
Read more