So Those Water Vapors on Europa Might Not Actually Be a Thing
Recent analysis has cast doubt on the existence of water vapor plumes on Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Researchers have reduced their confidence in the earlier findings from 99.9% to less than 90%. This reevaluation highlights the importance of scrutinizing scientific results as new data becomes available.
- ▪In 2014, researchers reported evidence of water vapor plumes on Europa based on Hubble data.
- ▪A new analysis suggests that the earlier findings may have been misinterpreted statistical noise.
- ▪The latest study indicates a persistent hydrogen exosphere at Europa but no localized water vapor evidence.
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In 2014, a monumental Science paper showed that Hubble data pointed to intermittent plumes of water vapor on Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons. Twelve years later, the same researchers revisited data from the same observatory. Now, they’re not so sure.cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"92b7b46b-43ed-4e0e-b21b-2c999302d9d7","settings":{"advertising":{"macros":{"AD_UNIT":"/23178111854/od.gizmodo.com/article","CHILD_UNIT":"article","POST_ID":"2000762171","POST_TYPE":"post","CHANNEL":"science","SECTION":"space","SUBSECTION":"","CATEGORIES":"space","TAGS":"europa,planetary-science,solar-system","NOP":"0"},"timeBeforeFirstAd":0}}}).render("cnx-player-main")}); Technically speaking, Europa’s surface could indeed release these fumes of water vapor, as suggested in 2014 and later by a…
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