Europa (moon)

Europa

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Done by: Marcus Sanatan

Basic Facts  It

is the sixth largest moon in the Solar System.  It is a satellite of Jupiter.  Diameter: 1940 miles (3122km)  Mass: 4.80 x 1022 kg  Orbital Period: 3.551181 days  Atmosphere: Thin and primarily composed of oxygen.  Surface: Smoothest of all in our Solar System and primarily composed of ice.

Why is it so interesting? 

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Images from Galileo (spacecraft) led many to hypothesize that Europa has a water ocean beneath its surface. The gravitational pull from Jupiter and Jupiter’s other large moons cause interior flexing which maintains the internal water’s liquid form (this process is called ‘tidal heating’). As water (not the Sun as many believed before) is all that is necessary for life, Europa may have extraterrestrial life! This possibility garnered such a following that the ESA and NASA have proposed a joint space mission to explore Europa more in depth.

Sources  National

Aeronautics and Space Administration.  European Space Agency  www.nineplanets.org  National Geographic “Naked Science” (TV)  Professor Richard Greenberg  Science Daily  Stellarium