There's a large ocean that covers the whole of Europa, right beneath its thick crust. Plans have been made by scientists to investigate that odd moon, because there could be a swarm of underwater life under that thick icy crust. The lacking of funds refrains from doing so. It's the only place, we know, in our solar system that could hold real biological alien life!

I still have some hope that some form of subterranean life exists on Mars.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

NASA Identifies Ice Cloud Above Cruising Altitude on Titan

NASA scientists have identified an unexpected high-altitude methane ice cloud on Saturn's moon Titan that is similar to exotic clouds found far above Earth's poles.

This lofty cloud, imaged by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, was part of the winter cap of condensation over Titan's north pole. Now, eight years after spotting this mysterious bit of atmospheric fluff, researchers have determined that it contains methane ice, which produces a much denser cloud than the ethane ice previously identified there.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-identifies-ice-cloud-above-cruising-altitude-on-titan/index.html#.VE1urBZFrz8

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When people talk about ET they usually mean from outside our Solar System, although the terrestrial bit comes from terra firma - Latin for earth. But anything not on this planet is regarded as Alien.

I have been saying all along that discovering microbial life somewhere other than on earth is not the same as what is being looked for as SETI. But it is one step closer than we are now.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

NASA captures stunning glow of sunlight on Titan’s mysterious seas

NASA’s Cassini probe has captured a spectacular mosaic image of sunlight reflecting off of polar seas on Saturn’s moon Titan. This glint of light, known as a specular reflection, was so radiant that it saturated the detector of the Visual and Infrared Mapping instrument. Cassini obtained the image during a flyby of Titan on August 21. Previous images have shown Titan’s polar seas or the sunlight reflection off of them, but never the two at the same time, until now.

http://thespacereporter.com/2014/11/nasa-captures-stunning-glow-of-sunlight-on-titans-mysterious-seas/

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Jupiter's Red Spot is Likely a Sunburn, Not a Blush

The ruddy color of Jupiter's Great Red Spot is likely a product of simple chemicals being broken apart by sunlight in the planet's upper atmosphere, according to a new analysis of data from NASA's Cassini mission. The results contradict the other leading theory for the origin of the spot's striking color -- that the reddish chemicals come from beneath Jupiter's clouds.

The results are being presented this week by Kevin Baines, a Cassini team scientist based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, at the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Science Meeting in Tucson, Arizona.

http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/cassini/jupiters-red-spot-is-likely-a-sunburn-not-a-blush/index.html

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The Cassini spacecraft has found water plumes being ejected from Saturn's moon Enceladus as well.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/03apr_deepocean/

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The Cassini spacecraft has found water plumes being ejected from Saturn's moon Enceladus as well.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/03apr_deepocean/

Link fixed, thanx Dennis:)

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

Signs of Europa Plumes Remain Elusive in Search of Cassini Data

A fresh look at data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its 2001 flyby of Jupiter shows that Europa’s tenuous atmosphere is even thinner than previously thought and also suggests that the thin, hot gas around the moon does not show evidence of plume activity occurring at the time of the flyby. The new research provides a snapshot of Europa's state of activity at that time, and suggests that if there is plume activity, it is likely intermittent.

The Europa results are being presented today at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco and published in the Astrophysical Journal. Europa is considered one of the most exciting destinations in the solar system for future exploration because it shows strong indications of having an ocean beneath its icy crust.

http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/signs-of-europa-plumes-remain-elusive-in-search-of-cassini-data/index.html

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Hubble Captures Rare Triple-Moon Conjunction

Firing off a string of action snapshots like a sports photographer at a NASCAR race, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured the rare occurrence of three of Jupiter's largest moons racing across the banded face of the gas-giant planet: Europa, Callisto, and Io.

These so-called Galilean moons, named after the 17th century scientist Galileo Galilei, who discovered them with a telescope, complete orbits around Jupiter with durations ranging from 2 days to 17 days. They can commonly be seen transiting the face of Jupiter and casting shadows onto its cloud tops. However, seeing three moons transiting the face of Jupiter at the same time is rare, occurring only once or twice a decade.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-captures-rare-triple-moon-conjunction/index.html

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NASA has its sights set on a visit to Jupiter's icy moon Europa, where astrobiologists believe there could be possible extraterrestrial life forms.
"For the first time in the history of humanity we have the tools and technology and capability to potentially answer this question. And, we know where to go to find it," Kevin Hand, a NASA astrobiologist, said last year.
Getting a closer look could soon be a reality. The $18.5 billion NASA budget recently proposed by the White House for next year includes money earmarked "for Planetary Science including formulation of a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa."

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/nasa-mission-europa-search-extraterrestrial-life/story?id=28719191

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

Looks like it is just an orbiter and won't land on Europa. Not sure how much evidence of life they can find from orbit.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

You would need to know the diameter of Europa to accurately estimate the surface area from the data given.

OK I took the volume of a sphere with a radius of 950 miles and subtracted the volume of a sphere with a radius of 930 miles and ended up with .22 billion cubic miles. converting to cubic kilometers got .9167 billion cubic km.

The diameter of Europa is stated at 1900 miles.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

I got to "a lot" and then my pencil broke :/

I am not sure what is being calculated here. The volume of a sphere is 4/3 πr^3

Assume the radius given includes the ocean. It's surface area is 4Ï€r^2. The volume would be the volume using the given radius minus the volume obtained with the given radius shortened by the average depth.

I am not sure what is being calculated here. The volume of a sphere is 4/3 πr^3

Assume the radius given includes the ocean. It's surface area is 4Ï€r^2. The volume would be the volume using the given radius minus the volume obtained with the given radius shortened by the average depth.

That's what I did.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Jupiter's icy moon is a candidate for harboring alien life—but would we know life if we found it?

Scientists Plan to Hunt for Alien Life on Europa

Are we truly alone in the universe? Or is Earth just one of many inhabited worlds? These are some of the most fascinating questions facing humanity, and soon, thanks to a 2016 federal budget allocation for a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, NASA may be able to help answer them.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150220-europa-alien-nasa-clipper-plumes-science/

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Saturn: Maybe there is life out there.

Spacecraft Data Suggest Saturn Moon's Ocean May Harbor Hydrothermal Activity

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first clear evidence that Saturn’s moon Enceladus exhibits signs of present-day hydrothermal activity which may resemble that seen in the deep oceans on Earth. The implications of such activity on a world other than our planet open up unprecedented scientific possibilities.

“These findings add to the possibility that Enceladus, which contains a subsurface ocean and displays remarkable geologic activity, could contain environments suitable for living organisms,” said John Grunsfeld astronaut and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “The locations in our solar system where extreme environments occur in which life might exist may bring us closer to answering the question: are we alone in the Universe.”

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/march/spacecraft-data-suggest-saturn-moons-ocean-may-harbor-hydrothermal-activity/index.html#.VQDQ3OH2NOY

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The only way I can reconcile the figures is by taking “ten times deeper“ to refer to the maximum depth of Earth’s oceans, not the average.

Starting with “two to three times the volume”: {2 to 3} * 0.32 billion cu.mi. = {0.64 to 0.96} BCM
Dividing by Europa’s surface area of 12 million sq.mi. (per Wikipedia) gives a depth of {53 to 80} miles.

That ignores Europa’s curvature, but is close enough for a ‘ballpark’ estimate. A more accurate calculation is difficult to do directly, because it involves either calculus or solving a cubic equation, but if you don’t want to take my word for it you can get an idea of the error by plugging the depth range back into the volume formula, along with the radius of 970 mi.: V = (4/3)Ï€(r³ – (r–d)³) = {0.59 to 0.87} BCM, so it appears I was underestimating the depth by no more than 10%. Plugging in a depth range of {60 to 90} miles yields something closer to the original volume range, implying the comparison to Earth’s oceans took them to be something like {6 to 9} miles deep.

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Are these oceans of water or Methane ? Anyone Know ?