europa

  • Scientists Can Detect Life in Single Grain of Alien Ice

    Scientists Can Detect Life in Single Grain of Alien Ice

    Icy moons like Europa and Enceladus are exciting venues for the prospect of life beyond Earth, because they are thought to contain oceans of water beneath their frigid surfaces. Now, a team of scientists has concluded that a single grain of material spewed up by the outgassing moons could contain biosignatures—signs of life—if there are…


  • Juno Spacecraft Gears Up for Closest Look at Jupiter’s Tormented Moon

    Juno Spacecraft Gears Up for Closest Look at Jupiter’s Tormented Moon

    NASA’s curious Jupiter probe is getting chummier with the planet’s most erratic moon, Io. The Juno spacecraft will carry out the closest encounter any mission has had with the volcanic moon in over 20 years, collecting valuable clues about its mysterious activity. Juno will make its flyby of Io on Saturday, December 30, coming within…


  • Webb Telescope Reveals a High-Speed Jet on Jupiter

    Webb Telescope Reveals a High-Speed Jet on Jupiter

    In July 2022, the Webb Space Telescope detected an intense jet shooting across the equator of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. The jet is travelling at about 320 miles per hour (515 kilometres per hour) and is about 25 miles (40 km) in altitude, corresponding to Jupiter’s lower stratosphere. Astronomers knew east-west…