This example of Jupiter’s moon Europa shows how the icy surface can glow on its nocturnal shore, away from the side sun. The variation in glow and the color of the glow itself can reveal information about the formation of ice on the surface of Europa. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
New laboratory experiments recreate the atmosphere of Europa and it seems that the icy moon shines even at night. The effect is more than just a nice scene.
Icy, sea-filled moon as an orbit of Europe Jupiter, It withstands the incessant pulses of radiation. Jupiter scatters the surface of Europa day and night with electrons and other particles, bathing it in high-energy radiation. But as these particles pound the lunar surface, they are probably doing something else: making Europa glow in the dark.
New research by scientists at NASAJet’s Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California details what its glow will look like for the first time, and what it might reveal about the formation of ice on the surface of Europe. Different alkaline compounds react differently to radiation and emit their own unique glitter. For the naked eye, this glow will sometimes look greenish, sometimes slightly blue or white and bright of different materials, depending on what material it is.
Scientists use a spectrometer to separate light into wavelengths and to attach “signatures” or spectra to various ice formations. Most observations using a spectrometer on a moon like Europa are made using sunlight reflected on lunar days, but these new results illuminate what Europa will look like in the dark.
Jupiter’s icy moon is a surprising, compelling surface of Europe in this newly-reproduced color view created from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. This is Galileo’s Europa color view showing the highest resolution on the largest part of the lunar surface. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Seti Institute
“We were able to predict that this night’s glow of ice could provide additional information about the formation of Europa’s surface. How this composition changes can give an indication of whether Europa maintains the right conditions for life. ” JPL‘Idol Gudipati’, masterpiece of the work published November 9, in the work Astronomy.
That’s because Europa has a huge, global inland ocean that can go to the surface through a thick crust of ice moons. By analyzing the surface, scientists can learn more about what is below.
Twinkling light
Scientists have speculated from previous observations that the surface of Europe may have been formed from a mixture of ice and commonly known salts on Earth, such as magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) and sodium chloride (table salt). New research shows that in conditions like Europa, glow is produced by incorporating that salt into water ice and blasting it with radiation.
That wasn’t much of a surprise. It is easy to imagine irradiated surface glowing. Scientists know that luminosity is caused by electrons penetrating the surface and stimulating the following molecules. When those molecules rest, they release energy as visible light.
This 12-frame mosaic provides the highest resolution view obtained from the lunar Europa side of Jupiter facing the giant planet. It was captured on November 25, 1999 by the camera camera on NASA’s Galileo spacecraft during the 25th orbit of Jupiter’s spacecraft. Credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona
“But we never imagined we would see what we would see,” said Brianna Henderson of JPL, who co-authored the research. “When we tried new ice formations, the glow looked different. And we all looked at him for a while and then said, ‘This is new, right? Is this definitely a different glow? ‘So we showed a spectrometer on it, and the spectrum of each type of ice was different. “
To study the mockup of the Europa surface laboratory, the JPL team created a unique tool called the Ice Chamber for Europa’s High-Energy Electron and Radiation Environment Testing (ICE – Heart). They took the ICE-heart to a high-electron electron beam facility in Gathersburg, Maryland, and began experiments with a completely different study in mind: to see how the organic matter under Europa ice would react to an explosion of radiation.
They do not expect to see variations in the glow associated with different ice formations. It was – as the writers call it – semiotics.
Seeing the sodium chloride brin at a significantly lower level of glow was the ‘aha’ moment that changed the course of research, said Fred Batman, co-author of the paper. He assisted in the experiment and delivered radiation beams to ice samples at the Medical Industrial Industrial Radiation Facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland.
The moon appearing in the dark sky does not seem unusual; We see our own moon because it reflects sunlight. But Europe’s glow is caused by a completely different mechanism, scientists said. Imagine a moon that is constantly glowing, even at night – facing away from the sun.
Gurupati said, “If Europa was not below this radiation, it would show the way our moon looks at us – it is dark next to the shadow,” Gudipati said. “But because it’s bombarded by Jupiter’s radiation, it’s glowing in the dark.”
Ready to launch in the mid-2020s, NASA’s next flagship mission, the Europa Clipper, will observe the lunar surface in several flyovers while orbiting Jupiter. Mission scientists are reviewing the authors’ findings to assess whether glow can be detected by spacecraft’s science tools. It is possible that the information collected by the spacecraft could be used to identify the salt components on the lunar surface or to shorten what they might be, with new research measures.
“It doesn’t often happen that you’re in the lab and say, ‘We’ll find out when we get there,'” Gudipati said. “Usually it’s around the other way around – you go out and find something and try to explain it in the lab. But our prediction goes back to a simple observation, and that’s about science.”
Missions like Europa Clipper help to contribute to the field of astrology, interdisciplinary research on the variables and conditions of the distant world that we know can capture life. While the Europa Clipper is not on a mission to find life, it will carry out detailed espionage operations in Europe and investigate whether the icy moon, along with its subsurface sea, has the ability to support life. Understanding the European habitat will help scientists better understand how life evolved on Earth and the possibility of finding life beyond our planet.
