- 1702 - Europa - Ice Shells on the Move? Europa’s image taken by NASA Galileo spacecraft ( 1995) is fascinating. This moon of Jupiter has plate tectonics. You can see Europa with binoculars along with 3 other Jupiter moons.
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- Europa’ image taken by NASA Galileo spacecraft ( 1995) is fascinating. This moon of Jupiter has plate tectonics just like Earth, only it’s ice.
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- Astronomers discovered this when the icy surface was dated to be younger than 90 million years. Since the Solar System is 4,600 million years old this icy surface must be recycled through geological activity, called subduction. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth 65 million years ago and Earth went through a subduction of sorts about the same time.
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- A new surface crust is being created by the subduction process. Cracks and ridges abruptly disappear as one ice shell dives below another. The planet appears to harbor a deep global ocean with a floating, fragmented, shifting ice shell.
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- Europa is 80% larger that our Moon. It has a diameter of 1,944 miles. It can easily be seen with binoculars having a brightness Magnitude of 5.0. ( 6.0 is considered normal naked eye viewing)
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- Europa gets 25 times less sunlight than our Moon , plunging its surface temperature to
-300F. There would be not liquid water except for the tidal forces of the mammoth planet Jupiter. Jupiter’s gravity constantly twists and distorts Europa’s mantel. Flexing and generating internal heat through friction. This heat keeps liquid water 15 to 19 miles below the surface.
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- Request these other Reviews to learn more about Europa:
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- #1361 Jupiter’s moons
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- #1152 Can Europa’s oceans support life? The under surface ocean is a rich soup of organic chemicals and oxygen.
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- #812 Europa orbits Jupiter each 3.55 Earth days. Europa is probably our best discover so far as a possible harbor of life outside Mother Earth. We have found life in Earth’s oceans near volcanic fissures much like the conditions expected to exist below the ice shells of Europa. Stay tuned, more discoveries are in the making.
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- Here is a great video that tells the story of Europa:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz9VhCQbPAk&feature=youtu.be
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