Tag: Hydrothermal Activity
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Europa’s Quiet Ocean: What Tectonics Mean for Life on Jupiter’s Moon
Introduction: Rethinking Europa’s Promise for Life For decades, Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons, has dazzled scientists as a prime candidate in the search for life beyond Earth. A subsurface ocean, salty and hidden beneath a thick ice shell, seemed to offer both a stable habitat and a source of chemical energy — ingredients thought…
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Enceladus Habitable Conditions: Fresh Organics Hint Life
New clues about Enceladus’ habitability Scientists have found fresh types of organic compounds in the icy plumes erupting from Enceladus, a small Saturnian moon with a hidden ocean. The discovery, reported in Nature Astronomy, builds on decades of data from NASA’s Cassini mission and strengthens the case that Enceladus could harbor the chemical conditions necessary…