Europa is one of the largest of the ninety five moons of Jupiter and is 424,000 miles (670,000 kilometers) away from Jupiter. Europa takes three and a half days to orbit Jupiter. Europa is also about 4.5 billion years old and is one of the first moons to be discovered besides Earth’s moon. The Italian astronomer named Galileo Galilei discovered these moons in January 1610.

Europa is mostly made out of silicate rock and probably has an iron-nickel core. It also has a thin atmosphere made mostly of oxygen. Lots of cracks and streaks cover the thin icy crust, which below might be a saltwater ocean that might have a chance of having a suitable environment for life.

The space probe named after Galileo found a possible water plume shooting out from the south pole of Europa. Spacecrafts that visited Europa are Voyager 2, Galileo and the Hubble space telescope. Europa Clipper is the next spacecraft visiting Europa to see if there are any conditions on Europa that could support life. Do you think Europa Clipper will find life on Europa?

Citations:

Nasa.gov

Space.com