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FP trendNovember 12, 2020 09:46:31 am
Scientists have found that Europa, Jupiter’s full ocean moon, shines even on its night side.
An experiment conducted at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, which recreated the interactions between Europa and Jupiter, made these exciting new findings.
According to a JPL statement, Europa endures relentless radiation strikes with Jupiter striking the surface of Europa day and night with electrons and other particles, bathing it in high-energy radiation. The researchers found that, like these radiation particles, they can make it glow in the dark.
This illustration of Jupiter’s moon Europa shows how the icy surface can glow on its night side, the side opposite the Sun. Variations in the brightness and color of the glow itself could reveal information about the composition of the ice in the surface of Europe. Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
According to the researchers, different salt compounds react differently to radiation and emit their own glow. The researchers used a spectrometer to separate the light into two wavelengths and connect the different signatures to different ice compositions.
Most observations using a spectrometer on a moon-like Europa are taken using sunlight reflecting off the moon’s day side, however, the latest results illuminate what Europa would look like in the dark.
Discussing their observations, Murthy Gudipati, lead author of the work, stated that they were able to predict that the glare from the night-side ice could provide more information on the composition of Europa’s surface. According to Gudipati, how that composition varies could give scientists clues as to whether Europa has suitable conditions for life.
Since Europa is home to a massive inland ocean, by analyzing the surface, scientists can learn more about what lies below.
Scientists previously discovered that the surface of Europa could be a mixture of ice and common salts like magnesium sulfate and sodium chloride.
The researchers incorporated those salts into the water ice under conditions similar to those in Europa and bombarded it with radiation to produce a glow. While that wasn’t a surprise, Bryana Henderson of JPL, a co-author on the research, added that when they tested new ice compositions, the gloss looked different. They pointed it with a spectrometer and each type of ice had a different spectrum.
According to the researchers, the Europa glow is caused by a completely different mechanism.
Gudipati said that if Europa were not under radiation, it would look like our moon, dark on the shaded side. However, because it is bombarded by radiation, it glows in the dark.
The findings were published In the diary Nature astronomy.
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