Jupiter’s moon Europa may have water where life could exist, say scientists

Jupiter's moon Europa, created from images taken by Nasa's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. Photograph: Nasa Nasa/Reuters

Subterranean pools of salty water may be commonplace on Jupiter’s moon, Europa, according to researchers who believe the sites could be promising spots to search for signs of life beyond Earth.

Evidence for the shallow pools, not far beneath the frozen surface of the Jovian moon, emerged when scientists noticed that giant parallel ridges stretching for hundreds of miles on Europa were strikingly similar to surface features discovered on the Greenland ice sheet.