ALBUFEIRA

Grande descoberta anunciada pela NASA

Água

Lagos na Lua de Júpiter

Europa – Imagem de 1996 – Nave Galileu

New research that suggests Jupiter's moon Europa has a body of water the size of the Great Lakes just two miles below its icy surface has brought scientists one step closer to determining whether or not the freezing satellite is suitable for the development of extraterrestrial life. According to NASA, scientists have long thought that a huge ocean -- more voluminous than all of earth's oceans combined -- existed below Europa's surface. But since the moon is so far from the sun, the surface ice is thought to be tens of miles thick. Now, scientists analyzing data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft have found ice blocks on Europa's surface that suggest an interaction between the moon's icy shell and a lake-like body of water under the surface, Discovery reports. According to Britney Schmidt, the lead author of the study that appears in the journal Nature, this could mean nutrients and energy, are moving between the ocean and icy shell.

(The Huffington Post)