Life On Other Planets

There is always the question: is there life on other planets. There answer is out there, but will be a matter of time before we find out. The thing is that this question has befuddled man since the discovery of space travel. Astronomers have discovered that Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, has a moon that might have had the resources

  to sustain life.The Seas of the Moon

Europa was first discovered on January 7, 1610 by Galileo Galilei. Europa is a moon of Jupiter, which is the largest planet in the solar system. It has an icy crust, a subsurface ocean, and a volcanic seafloor. The surface of the moon is very cold and is surprisingly active and smooth. There are geysers that shoot hot steam into the atmosphere…if it had one. The biggest things on the moon are only about one hundred meters high. The terrain is similar to that of earth.

Astronomers believe there to be water under the icy crust of Europa. If there is water, there would be the possibility for life. The conditions there on the surface are cold and what seems to be lifeless yet it’s active. The geysers shoot hot steam into the air. The surface is also quite smooth. Terrain on the moon is similar to that of Earth.

The possibility remains for there being life on Jupiter’s moon. There have been satellites that have estimated that about 50 meters below the crust there is water. The water might be frozen is the only problem because the temperature gets to about -260°F. Europa is quite a distance from the sun, but strong gravitational tides caused by Jupiter’s powerful pull could create the internal heat necessary for maintaining liquid water.

In conclusion, the likelihood of there being life on one of Jupiter’s moons is unlikely do to the frigid temperatures making it hard for anything to survive. There is still the possibility of water that remains and that can be a major factor for life. The surface is quite habitable but is kind of barren. The question of if life can thrive on Europa has yet to be discovered.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEq793g8Ivc

  • Do you think life on other planets is possible?
  • Could there have previously been life on Europa?
  • Can Europa be habited being that there are similar conditions to the moon such as no atmosphere?

 

9 thoughts on “Life On Other Planets

  1. This article was very interesting considering there might actually be life on another planet. I think that there could be life on another planet; it would be very special to be able to figure out the correct answer to this question because it would be life-changing to have another planet that could hold human life.

    Europa does not have thick enough oxygen for us to breathe, but there is a possibility that it was double the water of Earth which could lead to living organisms.

    https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Jup_Europa

  2. This blog was very intriguing. The thought of life on other planets in a very interesting thought. Discovering the moons orbiting Jupiter aided scientists to understand that Earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around. Europa is believed to be about 4.5 billion years old. The reason for its cold temperatures is because of Europa’s far distance from the sun. The moon’s surface is a frozen saltwater ocean covered with cracks that leads scientists to believe there may be some form of life there. This blog did a great blog of informing their viewers. There were some grammar mistakes, and the author could have been more descriptive and in-depth with the text.
    http://www.space.com/15498-europa-sdcmp.html

  3. I found this article to be very interesting for number of reasons. One reason is I think that there is other life in the universe besides us. I also think that it’s amazing that we found a moon with active geysers! This topic is a very important topic too because someday we might need to leave Earth because Earth will not be around forever. I also learned new information that Europa can get to -250 degrees now that is cold.

    But I also think this topic could have had a little more information on Europa and why we are trying to find other planets and why we care to find life on other planets too. But overall this is a good topic and a good blog about Europa.

    To add on I did some researching on this topic and found some fun and interesting facts about Europa and some additional information on Europa it’s a good site and there is a video on the website talking about Europa and what this moon is all about.
    Here is the link : http://www.space.com/15498-europa-sdcmp.html

  4. In this website, http://www.space.com/28705-how-to-live-on-europa.html Robert Pappalardo, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said that you would be crushed by the weight of the liquid hydrogen above if you were to step foot on it’s core. Scientists have stated that life on Europa could be possible today. The problems are that the oxygen is too thin for us humans too breathe and the average temperature is negative 260 degrees F. The planets magnetosphere showers Europa with deadly radiation. Other dangers would be ice quakes, giant plumes of water that could shoot out of the ice, and a chance of being hit by a small meteor or particles from space. Photos from previous missions suggest that it is smooth and lacks in mountains or craters because ocean forces constantly recycle Europa’s surface ice. It does have little ridges and other features on it’s surface though. Here are new pictures od Europa; http://www.space.com/13624-photos-europa-mysterious-moon-jupiter.html

  5. According to this website, http://www.space.com/26905-jupiter-moon-europa-alien-life.html it shows that it is possible for there to be water the this moon, just like a sheet of ice over a lake, the layer of ice on Eroupa should be able to keep the water as a liquid. Just because the moon is 500 million miles (800 million kilometers) away from the sun, that doesn’t mean that the water under the surface would be frozen.

  6. I found this article very interesting. I believe that scientists should send a space ship to the moon to find out if there is life on other planets. I learned that the gravitational pull on the moon causes the core of the planet to heat up which melts the ice creating water which means there is a possibility for life. http://www.pbs.org/lifebeyondearth/alone/europa.html

  7. Europa is similar to Earth’s moon. Europa has similar terrain and it is slightly smaller than our moon. Europa is covered with ice and it is around -260 degrees Fahrenheit. There may be a small chance of there being life on Europa since there is life in crazy places on Earth like in a cave miles below Earth’s surface. However there is more than likely some other form of life in outer space.http://whyfiles.org/060moons/europa2.html

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