Possible water plumes spotted on Europa

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Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have imaged what might be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, NASA announced yesterday (September 26, 2016).
Scientists estimate that the plumes rise about 125 miles (200 km) before, presumably, raining material back down onto Europa’s surface. The findings might make it easier to investigate whether life exists in the warm, salty ocean believed to be deep beneath the world’s icy surface.

This composite image shows suspected plumes of water vapor erupting at the 7 o’clock position off the limb of Jupiter’s moon Europa. The plumes, photographed by NASA’s Hubble’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were seen in silhouette as the moon passed in front of Jupiter. Hubble’s ultraviolet sensitivity allowed for the features, rising over 100 miles (160 km) above Europa’s icy surface, to be discerned. The water is believed to come from a subsurface ocean on Europa. The Hubble data were taken on January 26, 2014. Image via NASA.