Starship Asterisk*

[quote=MarkBour post_id=326324 time=1665017146 user_id=141361]
Just an odd set of thoughts here. If Europa has enough energy being imparted to it, then the subsurface water could indeed be liquid. I don't know if it's proper to call that an ocean, but for want of a better term, then, yes, an "encased ocean". Does this make life likely? Since we don't know quite how life formed for our one example, we end up pretty unsure of the likelihood.

My particular thought is that we don't know whether material that came from space was important on Earth to help life get going. If that were true, then Europa being an enclosed environment might lack the opportunity for life to start up there. Or it might make it a lot harder, for a spark to happen.
[/quote]

The material that came from space and may have been very important for life to form appears to originate mostly in the outer ice bodies. Europa probably doesn't need to get these things from space... it's a source of them!

Just an odd set of thoughts here. If Europa has enough energy being imparted to it, then the subsurface water could indeed be liquid. I don't know if it's proper to call that an ocean, but for want of a better term, then, yes, an "encased ocean". Does this make life likely? Since we don't know quite how life formed for our one example, we end up pretty unsure of the likelihood.

My particular thought is that we don't know whether material that came from space was important on Earth to help life get going. If that were true, then Europa being an enclosed environment might lack the opportunity for life to start up there. Or it might make it a lot harder, for a spark to happen.

I wonder how can the cracks be skew lines like grade separation.
Are there transparent layers of ice that were being formed and cracked at different stages of history?

[quote=alter-ego post_id=326284 time=1664855332 user_id=125299]
[quote=johnnydeep post_id=326275 time=1664827606 user_id=132061]
Nice! First pic of Europa from Juno! Twenty years after the last close-up from Galileo in 2000. Will Juno be making more passes, or is this the one and only? I read the links, but that didn't seem to be mentioned.
[/quote]
Yes, more flybys will happen. In its extended mission now, counting this pass, the planned Jovian moon passes will be Ganymede (2), Europa (3), and Io (11).
[/quote]

Wonderful!

[quote=johnnydeep post_id=326275 time=1664827606 user_id=132061]
Nice! First pic of Europa from Juno! Twenty years after the last close-up from Galileo in 2000. Will Juno be making more passes, or is this the one and only? I read the links, but that didn't seem to be mentioned.
[/quote]
Yes, more flybys will happen. In its extended mission now, counting this pass, the planned Jovian moon passes will be Ganymede (2), Europa (3), and Io (11).

Nice! First pic of Europa from Juno! Twenty years after the last close-up from Galileo in 2000. Will Juno be making more passes, or is this the one and only? I read the links, but that didn't seem to be mentioned.

[attachment=0]Europa_JunoLuck_1080.jpg[/attachment]
Aren't there other moons with oceans that might harbor life? :roll:

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221003.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_221003.jpg[/img] [size=150]Jupiter's Europa from Spacecraft Juno[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] What mysteries might be solved by peering into this crystal ball? In this case, the ball is actually a moon of [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/in-depth/]Jupiter[/url], the crystals are ice, and the moon is not only dirty but cracked [url=http://i.imgur.com/XWMxDa9.jpg]beyond repair[/url]. Nevertheless, speculation is rampant that oceans exist under [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)]Europa[/url]'s fractured ice-plains that [url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/alien-ocean-nasas-mission-to-europa]could support life[/url]. Europa, roughly the [url=http://georgenet.net/hubble/images/moons.jpg]size[/url] of [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130716.html]Earth's Moon[/url], is [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/192271236@N03/52393304986/in/pool-apods/]pictured here[/url] in an image taken [url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-juno-shares-first-image-from-flyby-of-jupiter-s-moon-europa]a few days ago[/url] when the Jupiter-orbiting robotic [url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/spacecraft/index.html]spacecraft Juno[/url] passed within 325 kilometers of its [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap961022.html]streaked[/url] and [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000825.html]shifting[/url] surface. Underground [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)#Subsurface_ocean]oceans[/url] are thought likely because [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/europa/in-depth/]Europa[/url] undergoes [url=https://youtu.be/F5SdOYEniCo]global flexing[/url] due to its changing gravitational attraction with Jupiter during its slightly [url=https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-orbit-58.html]elliptical orbit[/url], and this flexing heats the interior. Studying Juno's [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020602.html]close-up[/url] images may further humanity's understanding not only of Europa and the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of_the_Solar_System]early Solar System[/url] but also of the possibility that [url=http://www.nasa.gov/content/finding-life-beyond-earth-is-within-reach]life exists elsewhere[/url] in the universe.


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