![]() ![]() On Earth, tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon. What keeps the water under the ice in liquid form if the surface is so cold?Įuropa's tides prevent it from freezing solid. Since there are lots of tiny creatures that live in very harsh water environments here on Earth, it's possible that this type of life could also exist on Europa. NASA’s Galileo mission found good evidence that underneath this rock-hard, icy crust there is a huge, salty, liquid ocean. What could possibly live there?Īn illustration of what it might look like if you were standing on Europa's frozen surface. However, it’s so cold there that any water on the surface is frozen as hard as rock. In fact, it might have more than twice as much water as Earth. Scientists think that Europa has lots of water. It’s so cold because it’s a long way from the Sun-more than five times farther than the distance between the Sun and Earth. It’s slightly smaller in size than Earth’s Moon. On Europa, it would take a jack hammer! What is Europa like?Įuropa is smaller and colder than Earth. We can usually crack our Earth's winter ice with an ice pick. It is so cold on Europa that water on the surface of the moon is frozen as hard as rock. It is a long way from the Sun-more than five times farther than the distance between Earth and the Sun. Jupiter’s moon Europa is one of those places. There are a few places in our solar system where scientists think it might be possible to find life beyond Earth. This image of Jupiter's beautiful moon Europa was taken by the Galileo Orbiter spacecraft in 1998. ![]()
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