{"id":8250,"date":"2013-04-05T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T22:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=8250"},"modified":"2013-04-05T12:28:46","modified_gmt":"2013-04-05T22:28:46","slug":"8250","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=8250","title":{"rendered":"NASA and Caltech Astronomers Find Potential Energy Supply For Life on Europa"},"content":{"rendered":"

W. M. Keck Observatory press release<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Observations of Europa from the W. M. Keck Observatory help NASA and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) astronomers go one step further in demonstrating life may be possible in the ocean of one of Jupiter\u2019s moons. In addition to the known existence of water, a paper published today shows hydrogen peroxide is abundant across much of the surface of the smallest of the Galilean Moons. The paper argues that if the peroxide on the surface of Europa mixes into the ocean below, it could be an important energy supply for simple forms of life. The paper<\/a> was published online in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.<\/p>\n

(On March 14, a separate paper<\/a> was published by the same team in Astronomical Journal, demonstrating the salty ocean of Europa makes its way through the frozen surface, introducing the possibility the ocean is habitable. Click here<\/a> for that news release.)<\/p>\n

\u201cLife as we know it needs liquid water, elements like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur, and it needs some form of chemical or light energy to get the business of life done,\u201d said Kevin Hand, the paper\u2019s lead author, based at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. \u201cEuropa has the liquid water and elements, and we think that compounds like peroxide might be an important part of the energy requirement. The availability of oxidants like peroxide on Earth was a critical part of the rise of complex, multicellular life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Europa\"<\/a>
This color composite view combines violet, green, and infrared images of Jupiter’s intriguing moon, Europa, image credit NASA\/JPL\/University of Arizona<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/h6>\n

The scientists think hydrogen peroxide is an important factor for the habitability of the global liquid water ocean under Europa\u2019s icy crust because hydrogen peroxide decays to oxygen when mixed into liquid water. \u201cAt Europa, abundant compounds like peroxide could help to satisfy the chemical energy requirement needed for life within the ocean, if the peroxide is mixed into the ocean,\u201d said Hand.<\/p>\n

Co-author Mike Brown of Caltech in Pasadena, analyzed data collected from the Near-Infrared Echelle Spectrograph (NIRSPEC) and OH Suppressing Infra-Red Imaging Spectrograph (OSIRIS) instruments on the mighty Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, over four nights in September 2011. The highest concentration of peroxide found was on the side of Europa that always leads in its orbit around Jupiter, with a peroxide abundance of 0.12 percent relative to water. (This is roughly 20 times more diluted than the hydrogen peroxide mixture available at drug stores.) The concentration of peroxide in Europa\u2019s ice then drops off to nearly zero on the hemisphere of Europa that faces backward in its orbit.<\/p>\n

Hydrogen peroxide was first detected on Europa by NASA\u2019s Galileo mission, which explored the Jupiter system from 1995 to 2003, but Galileo observations were of a limited region. The data from Keck Observatory shows that peroxide is widespread across much of the surface of Europa, and the highest concentrations are reached in regions where Europa\u2019s ice is nearly pure water with very little sulfur contamination. The peroxide is created by the intense radiation processing of Europa\u2019s surface ice that comes from the moon\u2019s location within Jupiter\u2019s strong magnetic field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Galileo measurements gave us tantalizing hints of what might be happening all over the surface of Europa, and we\u2019ve now been able to quantify that with our Keck telescope observations,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWhat we still don\u2019t know is how the surface and the ocean mix, which would provide a mechanism for any life to use the peroxide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

W. M. Keck Observatory press release… Observations of Europa from the W. M. Keck Observatory help NASA and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) astronomers go one step further in demonstrating life may be possible in the ocean of one of Jupiter\u2019s moons. In addition to the known existence of water, a paper published today shows … Continue reading “NASA and Caltech Astronomers Find Potential Energy Supply For Life on Europa”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[879,896,103,50,408,897],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}