Subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa deemed potentially 'habitable'
Can it support life? If so, anything beyond microbial?
Read the rest of the article at the link.Europa, with an ocean hidden beneath a thick shell of ice, long has been viewed as a potential habitat for extraterrestrial life in our solar system, alongside other candidates such as Mars and Saturn’s moon Enceladus. A new study presented on Wednesday at a geoscience conference underscores its potential.
Europa’s ocean may have formed after water-rich minerals ejected their water thanks to heating caused by the decay of radioactive elements in its interior early in its history, the researchers found.
The effect of tides caused by Europa’s gravitational interactions with Jupiter - the solar system’s largest planet - and two other large Jovian moons, Io and Ganymede, also may have played a role.