 Measurements
of Europa's magnetic field suggest the hidden presence of a salt-water
ocean
Scientists
in the United States say the possibility of finding life elsewhere
in the Solar System is a step closer.
They have found the most convincing evidence yet that one of the
moons of Jupiter - called Europa - has a liquid ocean beneath
its icy surface.
The data came
from magnetic readings taken by the Galileo spacecraft when it
passed close to the moon earlier this year.
The presence
of an ocean of liquid water on Europa would strengthen the possibility
of finding signs of life there.
Icy sea
Europa is
Jupiter's fourth largest moon.
Pictures of
its surface show chunks of cracked and broken ice, that seem to
be floating on a liquid sea.
Until now,
scientists have been unsure whether the ocean still exists today
or whether it froze hundreds of thousands of years ago.
New data sent
back from the Galileo Spacecraft, which passed close to Europa
at the beginning of the year, may contain the answer.
Galileo detected
patterns in the moon's internal magnetic field that strongly indicated
the presence of a salty ocean.
Life on
Europa?
The results
were reported in the journal Science by a team of planetary physicists
at the University of California, Los Angeles.
They concluded
that there could be a salty ocean about seven and a half kilometres
below the moon's surface.
However, the
scientists cannot tell if the water is definitely salty or not,
and they cannot be completely certain that an ocean actually exists.
But the new
evidence suggests that if there were an ocean, it would be a good
place to look for signs of rudimentary life on Europa.
"It makes
it a more interesting possibility to look for signs that there
might be life, or there may have been life," Dr Margaret
Kivelson, professor of space physics at the University of California,
told the BBC.
"Water
is a very hospitable environment for the formation of life."
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