This photo shows Jupiter’s moon Europa. – AFP/file
A new study reveals that, if it formed at all, the core of Jupiter’s ocean moon Europa may have developed billions of years after the rest of it.
The icy shell that surrounds Europa, Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, is there, but scientists believe that beneath Europa’s ice-covered surface is home to a salty ocean that moves above its rocky mantle.
According to Kevin Trinh, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University in Tempe and lead author of the study published in the journal Scientific progress, there may be “more liquid water than Earth”.
Previous studies have suggested that Europa may be habitable; for example, seafloor volcanoes and hydrothermal vents can help provide heat that sustains life and molecules that are useful for biological processes in the ocean.
Scientists need to understand the nature of Jupiter’s moon interior and how it may have changed over time to determine whether such potentially life-sustaining activity could exist on Europa.
“While Europa is known as a potentially habitable ocean world, over 90% of Europa’s mass comes from rocks and metals,” Trinh said.
According to Space.comanalysis by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft of Europa’s gravitational field after its arrival in the Jupiter system in 1995 suggests that Europa’s interior is divided into a metallic core and rocky mantle, just like Earth’s.
Later studies often assumed that these layers were formed as part of or shortly after the formation of the Jovian moon.
“Now, to our surprise, we have discovered that Europa may have spent most of its life without a fully formed metallic core — that is, if such a core existed at all,” Trinh said.
Furthermore, the Galileo data were re-examined in a study conducted in 2021, and the results suggest that Europa may not be as massive near its center as previously thought. Its existence as a fully formed nucleus would then become a matter of discussion.
Another reason Europa’s core may not be fully formed is thought to be due to its colder formation at a greater distance from the sun. Computer models have shown that its building blocks may not have melted and separated into a metallic core and a rocky mantle.
In addition, scientists discovered that Europa’s ocean and ice shell formed 500,000 years after its birth due to chemical reactions. A metallic core, if present, may have formed billions of years after the birth of the Moon due to heat from radioactive elements and Jupiter’s gravitational pull. Core formation will make Europe more habitable.
According to Trinh, “NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission can help measure the gravity of the Jovian moon Europa to improve our understanding of how Europa’s mass is distributed, which is related to the existence of Europa’s metallic core. ”