Europa has an icy surface, but is there an ocean underneath?
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Courtesy of NASA
Oceans on Europa?
News story originally written on August 26, 2000
A new study has evidence that Jupiter's moon Europa is full of salt water. Previous
studies have indicated that the surface of Europa is ice. Scientists were wondering what
was underneath this ice. With the help of the Galileo spacecraft, we may finally have the answer.
It all started when Galileo found a magnetic pole on Europa. NASA sent the spacecraft
back for another look, and data shows that the pole moves every few hours. Scientists say this
movement is most likely caused by salt water.
Scientists are hoping the Europa orbiter can finally prove their theory when starts
its journey in 2003. Until then, we will still speculate that water exists on this cold moon.
If water does exist, then there is a good chance that life is there as well.
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