Scientists hoping to find life in liquid water oceans beneath the frigid, icy shell of Jupiter's moon Europa may get a helping hand from a "cosmic snowball fight" this world once engaged in.
Europa has long been considered a prime solar system location to search for evidence of simple life — life as we know it, at least). That's because this 1,940-mile (3,100-kilometer) wide Jovian moon is believed to host saltwater oceans two to three times the volume of every sea on Earth put together. These oceans are believed to lurk beneath Europa's icy crust, and such watery environments are key regions for the emergence of life. However, the likelihood of Europa hosting life, and the form that life may take on this world, is strongly dependent on the thickness of this moon's ice shell. That thickness is something scientists have thus far struggled to determine.
But now, a team of planetary scientists may have some clues about the final value. After looking at large craters on Europa that resulted from asteroids and comets bombarding the moon, the researchers used these observations to determine that Enceladus' shell is around 12 miles (20 kilometers) thick. And this shell, they say, likely floats on an ocean ranging in depth from 40 to 100 miles (60 to 150 kilometers) situated around the moon's rocky core.
