Friday 18 November 2011

Huge potentially inhabited water lake found on Jupiter moon

In major extra-terrestrial news, scientists have announced the first discovery of at least one huge body of liquid water beyond planet Earth, offering confirmation at last of a potential offworld habitat for alien life.

The water in question - roughly enough to fill one of the North American Great Lakes - has been spotted beneath the ice cap covering Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. Better still, it's thought that the ice floating atop the hidden lake is collapsing and mixing with the water below, offering evidence that the Europan ice cap mixes with the oceans of water beneath it - which makes it much more probable that life could exist in the deeps below.

One opinion in the scientific community has been, 'If the ice shell is thick, that's bad for biology — that it might mean the surface isn't communicating with the underlying ocean,'" says Britney Schmidt, lead author on the new study documenting discovery of the Jovian moon-lake. "Now we see evidence that even though the ice shell is thick, it can mix vigorously. That could make Europa and its ocean more habitable."

Read more here ...

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