8 ms·

Please forgive my ignorance. What makes Europa more likely to contain life than other moons thought to contain oceans like Callisto, Ganymede, Titan, Enceladus

by stephth 13y ago

Please forgive my ignorance. What makes Europa more likely to contain life than other moons thought to contain oceans like Callisto, Ganymede, Titan, Enceladus ... ? [1] [1] http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18lqil4sqeremjpg/original.jpg http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18lqil4sqeremjpg/original.jp... [2] [2] http://io9.com/5827649/a-map-of-all-the-water-in-the-solar-system http://io9.com/5827649/a-map-of-all-the-water-in-the-solar-s...

trekky1700 13y ago
And this is why NASA's Planetary Sciences division should not suffer huge budget cuts.
maaku 13y ago
Enormous oceans of liquid water, with internal tidal heat and protection from harsh surface environment?
- ep103 13y ago
  And lets not forget the large black monolith.
  - ChikkaChiChi 13y ago
    All joking aside, the guy who wrote those kind of knew what the hell he was talking about.
    - ep103 13y ago
      Absolutely!
dmead 13y ago
read the 2010 novel by authur clarke. he goes into some detail about how it might work
rsynnott 13y ago
I believe there's more evidence for an ocean in Europa than the other Galilean moons, and the ice sheet on top is thought to be substantially thinner. As for the moons of Saturn, I suspect Enceladus gets less interest simply because it's far less accessible, and if Titan has life it won't be remotely like any sort of life we're used to, and may be quite difficult to detect.
vacri 13y ago
Because modern science is Eurocentric? :p
InclinedPlane 13y ago
Titan is known to contain oceans, but of nearly cryogenically cold hydrocarbons. It's unlikely to support life merely due to the temperatures there. Many planetary bodies are thought to have sub-surface water oceans of some variety, though Europa's is the most intriguing for several reasons. Given that Europa's surface is entirely water ice and geologically quite young that is a strong indication that Europa's sub-surface ocean is vast, warm, and consistently liquid over geological time periods. If, for example, Ganymede's ocean were as large and as warm then why has it not risen to the surface and formed an ice layer? This is backed up by the fact that Europa experiences an intense amount of tidal heating from it's galilean moon neighbors. Because of this high amount of tidal heating, which on the neighboring moon Io is sufficient to cause widespread vulcanism, there is a reasonably good chance of significant hydrothermal vent systems within the Europan ocean. We've found on Earth that such vents can support chemotrophic life (through sulphides and serpentinization) which can support complex ecosystems which include animals such as shrimp and clams. That isn't to say that other bodies may not harbor substantial sub-surface oceans or support extra-terrestrial life, but the case for Europa is that much stronger and so that much more a compelling target for investigation.

by stephth 13y ago

trekky1700 13y ago

And this is why NASA's Planetary Sciences division should not suffer huge budget cuts.

maaku 13y ago

Enormous oceans of liquid water, with internal tidal heat and protection from harsh surface environment?

ep103 13y ago
And lets not forget the large black monolith.
- ChikkaChiChi 13y ago
  All joking aside, the guy who wrote those kind of knew what the hell he was talking about.
  - ep103 13y ago
    Absolutely!

dmead 13y ago

read the 2010 novel by authur clarke. he goes into some detail about how it might work

rsynnott 13y ago

I believe there's more evidence for an ocean in Europa than the other Galilean moons, and the ice sheet on top is thought to be substantially thinner. As for the moons of Saturn, I suspect Enceladus gets less interest simply because it's far less accessible, and if Titan has life it won't be remotely like any sort of life we're used to, and may be quite difficult to detect.

vacri 13y ago

Because modern science is Eurocentric? :p

InclinedPlane 13y ago

Titan is known to contain oceans, but of nearly cryogenically cold hydrocarbons. It's unlikely to support life merely due to the temperatures there. Many planetary bodies are thought to have sub-surface water oceans of some variety, though Europa's is the most intriguing for several reasons. Given that Europa's surface is entirely water ice and geologically quite young that is a strong indication that Europa's sub-surface ocean is vast, warm, and consistently liquid over geological time periods. If, for example, Ganymede's ocean were as large and as warm then why has it not risen to the surface and formed an ice layer? This is backed up by the fact that Europa experiences an intense amount of tidal heating from it's galilean moon neighbors. Because of this high amount of tidal heating, which on the neighboring moon Io is sufficient to cause widespread vulcanism, there is a reasonably good chance of significant hydrothermal vent systems within the Europan ocean. We've found on Earth that such vents can support chemotrophic life (through sulphides and serpentinization) which can support complex ecosystems which include animals such as shrimp and clams. That isn't to say that other bodies may not harbor substantial sub-surface oceans or support extra-terrestrial life, but the case for Europa is that much stronger and so that much more a compelling target for investigation.