September 27, 2016

Europa with the possible water vapor plumes coming from its south pole (Image NASA/ESA/W. Sparks (STScI)/USGS Astrogeology Science Center)

In a press conference, NASA announced that a team of astronomers led by Dr. William Sparks who observed Europa with the Hubble Space Telescope captured images of what might be plumes of water vapor and erupt from the surface of this planet moon Jupiter. They would be a confirmation of the existing subsurface activity with an ocean of liquid water, one of the best candidates to host life forms. The results of this research will be published in the “Astrophysical Journal”.