BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Europa Facts for Kids *new article*

Astronomers are very interested in Jupiter's moon Europa. They think that it has a large ocean covering the moon under its icy crust, and that it would be a good place to look for life.

Europa Facts for Kids

We didn't know much about Jupiter's moons in the days before space probes. They're small and far away. Even the giant telescopes of the Keck Observatory in Hawaii can't get surface detail. Here's a comparison between the best Keck image of Europa and what we got from the Galileo spacecraft.

This is a "black smoker" - a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. (Credit: NOAA)

A hydrothermal vent is a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water issues. Hydrothermal vents are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart, ocean basins, and hotspots.

These vents may have ecosystems of a kind that we don't see anywhere else. Instead of sunlight, the energy source is chemical energy from minerals - bacteria that can turn the chemical energy into food are the bass of the food chain. They have the same role in the ecosystem as plants do in most surface systems.

Nature continues to amaze me.

I was reading something about a boiling river in South America.

and I read something today about
"Tonight's rocket launch will be visible in Richmond

From staff reports

Tonight's rocket launch from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility near Chincoteague will be visible across the Richmond region, according to viewing maps."

more on the rocket launch:

today's Richmond Times Dispatch:

Rocket launch is successful at Wallops Island

By MICHAEL MARTZ Richmond Times-Dispatch

WALLOPS ISLAND — The third time proved a charm, as the Antares rocket returned to space with a successful launch Monday evening from a pad owned by Virginia and rebuilt after an aborted liftoff that caused $15 million in damage two years ago.

Angie, that sounds like quite a spectacle. Did you see it?

Mona, I missed that one. It would have been quite a memorable sight.

This is a composite image showing Hubble data and an image of Europa. Scientists think that what's showing up on Hubble are plumes of water being spewed out from Europa's interior.