Europa spouting off again
Hubble images of plumes on Jupiter’s icy moon revive talk of hidden ocean
COME INTO VIEW Plumes erupting from Europa (illustrated) stand out against light from Jupiter in observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.
A. Field/STScI
Jupiter’s moon Europa might once again be venting water into space, further supporting the idea that an ocean hides beneath its thick shell of ice, researchers reported September 26 at a news conference.
Plumes erupting from the moon’s surface, silhouetted against background light from Jupiter, appear in several images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in early 2014. The geysers — presumably of water vapor or ice particles — showed up in the same location as an eruption captured by Hubble in 2012 (SN: 1/25/14, p. 6). The eruptions also appear to be intermittent, appearing in only three out of 10 images. Material hovering over the moon’s southern hemisphere and absorbing ultraviolet light coming from Jupiter made the plumes visible.
