Questions tagged [europa]
Questions about Europa, a moon of Jupiter with a planet-wide ocean under a thick ice crust.
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What are these bumps on Europa?
The surface of Europa is famous for all the criss-cross lines thought to be cracks in the ice above a water ocean that somehow re-freeze.
But in the photo below I also see a lot of raised "bumps&...
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The orbital period of Jupiter and Europa billions of years later
We know that the Sun gets so big billions of years later and the Earth will get destroyed.
What will the orbital period of Jupiter (Sun-Jupiter system) and its moon Europa (Jupiter-Europa system) be ...
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What limits can we set about life beneath the ice of Europa?
Do we know enough about the conditions beneath the ice of Europa to say anything about the complexity of life that may live there? Can we rule out macroscopic life?
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Jupiter's effect on a hypothetical "warm" Europa's water
Imagine for a moment that Europa is not frozen solid (at least on the surface).
Would the fact that it is tidally locked to Jupiter mean that the water would be stagnate? So there would be no tides ...
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What happens to Europa's (or another ice moon's) water if we drilled a hole through the ice crust down to the ocean?
Suppose we drilled a 1 ft (30 cm) diameter hole through Europa's ice crust. As Europa doesn't have an atmosphere, the water would obviously either sublime (turn to vapor) or instantly freeze once a ...
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Is the water underneath Europa's ice cap potable?
I read this question on Worldbuilding.SE, and figured that the astronomy site would have answers too, particularly for the specific example of Europa. The idea is that Earth's oceans are salty because ...
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How thick is the ice on Europa?
The Wikipedia article about Europa states
It is estimated that Europa has an outer layer of water around 100 km (62 mi) thick; a part frozen as its crust, and a part as a liquid ocean underneath the ...
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Would Europa be an ocean planet if it were in the habitable zone?
If a Europa-like body were in the Sun's habitable zone, let's say in an orbit between Earth and Mars, would the body become and remain a water ocean planet? In the habitable zone, the Sun would warm ...
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Why the Circumstellar Habitable Zone is defined as it is, if life could be possible outside of it?
According to Circumstellar habitable zone
In astronomy and astrobiology, the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), or simply the habitable zone, is the range of orbits around a star within which a ...
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Was Earth closer to Europa on 1983-11-25 or 1985-07-22?
xkcd #2003:
gives a humorous line of succession to the United States presidency. The comic's title text, found by hovering over the comic, states that a tie is broken by whoever was closest to the ...
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How does gravity affect pressure under water?
How different would being under water in Europa differ from being under water on Earth? Would it be possible to dive deeper on Europa with a submarine than on Earth and by how much?
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Is there enough light to grow plants in the ocean of Europa?
What is the underwater temperature of Europa?
I know Jupiter emits infrared light but does it emit any light able to support plant life of any type on near by Moons? Can under water volcanic activity ...
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What is the underwater temperature of Europa?
If Europa has an oxygen atmosphere with a water mantle, is it possible that there could be life under the crust of Europa ice on the ocean where it is warmer? What could be the temperature under the ...
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Icy moons: why hasn't the ice sublimated away?
Let's take Europa for example:
The predominant model suggests that heat from tidal flexing causes the ocean to remain liquid and drives ice movement similar to plate tectonics.
The heat generated from ...
user1569
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How much light would be reflected from Jupiter to Europa (in Europas night)?
Suppose Europa is found habitable and humans start living on it. Europa is close to Jupiter and during the night Jupiter would be reflecting light to Europa, just like our full moon reflects light to ...
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Is Jupiter's rotation slowing?
According to Wikipedia, re Europa's tidal flexing:
the tidal flexing kneads Europa's interior and gives it a source of
heat, possibly allowing its ocean to stay liquid while driving
subsurface ...
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Enceladus; why use the words "geysers", "jets", and "plumes" interchangeably?
Background, Europa:
In an earlier question How can “Geysers” on Europa reach heights of 100km? I brought up the use of the word "geyser" in association with the reported confirming observations of ...
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How can "Geysers" on Europa reach heights of 100km?
After seeing today's Washington Post's article NASA just saw Europa’s geysers erupting into space. Again., and especially the phrase "geysers erupting into space" I checked and Europa has a surface ...
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Determine the moons of Jupiter through a telescope
I was doing my own "space exploration" last night with a telescope. Being a space noob I can't visually determine stars or planets (I know the moon, though), but I focused on one particularly bright ...
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How tall are the "fractured" linear structures on Europa's surface?
What are the altitude differences in the high resolution part of this image of Europa?
How high do those ridges rise over their neighboring valleys? And how large is the area shown in this image?
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What is needed to break through the surface of Europa? [closed]
How big does a satelite we send have to be to be able to chrush through the ice layer and dive into the ocean on Europa? If a mission should head there, is this a better way of examining the ocean ...
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What evidence is there of Earth-Like internal features of Europa?
This question is inspired by "What are the Earth-like features of Titan?". According to NASA's Europa overview, Europa is believed to have an iron core, rocky mantle and an ocean under the frozen ...
user8