Hoang Phi Pham
PHYS 17400
Planet Research Project: Europa
Europa is an icy moon of the planet Jupiter. It is the fourth largest moon of Jupiter, and the sixth largest moon in the solar system, being slightly smaller than Earth's moon. Europa, along with three other moons of Jupiter, Io, Ganymede, and Callisto, was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei, and has been studied by humans using telescopes and space probes since the 20th century. Europa is believed to have a global ocean of water with a rocky seafloor. If this ocean floor is proven true, Europa could be a candidate for life beyond Earth.
Europa completes a counter-clockwise orbit around Jupiter every 3.5 Earth days. This is also the amount of time it takes for Europa to finish a 360 degrees rotation. It is locked by gravity to Jupiter, so one hemisphere of the moon always faces the planet, while the other side never see the planet. While Europa has its own atmosphere comprised of mostly oxygen, it is extremely thin. This atmosphere is created as a result of radiation and particles from Jupiter colliding on the surface of Europa and produces water vapor. This water vapor then splits into oxygen and hydrogen that floats around Europa. The hydrogen then escapes from the atmosphere due to the moon's weak gravity, leaving only oxygen behind. Europa's axial tilt is 0.1 degrees. This means that there are no seasons in Europa; every location on the planet will have a roughly consistent climate. One solar day in Europa is 3.5 Earth days long, similar to the time it takes for the moon to orbit around Jupiter once. Because of Europa's thin atmosphere, it is unable to capture sunlight and thus cannot keep its surface warm. Furthermore, it is very far from the Sun, at a distance ...
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...each the subsurface ocean they may start and sustain life. The existent of ocean water and subsurface minerals will also cause chemical reactions that can create nutrients to support life. These chemical reactions will be supported by the heat energy from Europa's constant tidal processes. There is also a possibility of volcanoes or hydrothermal vents existing on Europa's which can cycle nutrient-rich water between the ocean and the rocky seafloor. The radiation from Jupiter is also another source of energy capable of separating chemicals so that they can recombine to form new materials. Moreover, Europa and its ocean may have been in existence long enough for life to begin and evolve there.
If life in Europa does exist, it may be similar to the advanced life forms found near hot vents in Earth's abyssal oceans, or it may simply be microorganisms such as bacteria.
JUNO is a NASA mission to the planet Jupiter. The Juno spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas V-551 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in Aug. 2011. (www.nasa.gov). It will take 5 years to reach Jupiter, arriving in July 2016. It will orbit Jupiter 33 times. The purpose of the mission is to explore Jupiter’s structure and atmosphere. The main aim of this mission is to understand how the planet Jupiter originated and thus help us understand the evolution of the gas giants. This knowledge will also reflect upon our understanding of the origins of the Universe. The spacecraft will be placed in a polar orbit to study the planet's composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere. Juno will also search to see whether the planet has a rocky core and investigate the amount of water present within the planet’s atmosphere. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA is managing the Juno mission for Dr. Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The spacecraft is being built by Lockheed Martin of Denver. Scientists from 5 countries ha...
The evidence show Europa completes its orbit around Jupiter about every four days. Assuming Europa does not vary in its distance from Jupiter and is equal in its orbit. Friday would have been observed about 1.5 squidgits on the left side of Jupiter and Saturday Europa would have completed its orbit and returned to about 5 squidgits from Jupiter.
1. There were several factors that caused or encouraged European exploration and expansion. The first factor was the Europeans’ long-lasting interest in areas outside Europe. Some writers wrote of an imaginary Christian kingdom in Africa led by Prester John, while other wrote of lands that were rich in resources or were filled with hostile creatures. Muslims long had control of trade routes in Eurasia, but the Mongols reopened the trade routes to Europeans, allowing travelers such as Marco Polo to visit East Asia to find spices and other luxury items. This brings us to our second motive: $$ MONEY $$ and profits. Europeans wanted to find gold and other precious items. Spices were considered extremely valuable by many Europeans and made many
Budget cuts also threaten to push future exploration missions further away. One mission that is important is a mission to Jupiter 's moon Europa, which scientists believes hold an internal ocean that can harbor life.
... a bear to protect her from his wife Hera's jealousy. Later, Zeus placed Callisto and their son in the sky, and mother and son became Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Callisto is the third largest moon in the solar system and is almost the size of Mercury. Its interior is similar to Ganymede except the inner rocky core is smaller, and this core is surrounded by a large icy mantle. Callisto's surface is the darkest of the four major moons, but it is twice as bright as our own Moon. It is thought to be a long dead world. Callisto is about 4 billion years old and has the oldest landscape in the solar system. Although Jupiter is not the best place to land or live it does hold a moon that could be habitual. Europa and Ganymede are two of the best places to try to colonize although we could harm the organisms there if there are any. Either way Jupiter is not a planet to live in.
Jupiter has many moons, Sixty-seven actually. There are only four moons that scientists are very interested on. These four moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The reasons scientists are so interested in these moons are since they might have found evidence of small life forms, such as bacteria and planets on these moons. The moon Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system. It would be interesting to find life on these planets.
Right alongside the fifth and largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, orbits a moon only about the same size as Earth’s moon. On this moon, is an icy surface that scientists are trying to uncover. Due to the presence of what they believe to be water, there is the possibility of life on this moon named Europa.
It is without a doubt that the most fascinating thing about space is the possibility of life elsewhere beside Earth. It is estimated that the Milky Way Galaxy itself contains about 300 billion stars. Each star contains planets and some planets might even have moons. With these findings, the question is no longer whether life exists elsewhere. The probability that Earth is the only place where life exists in the universe is far too slim. NASA has identified many planets that have similar conditions to Earth but most of these planets are hundreds of light years away so traveling there to find out if there’s any living organism is not easy. Luckily, scientific evidences have pointed out that one of the moons of Jupiter, Europa, could be one of the places where life can exist. If the theories proposed by astronomers about Europa are true, life on Europa might not even be entirely different than life near the bottom of Earth’s oceans.
Stars are luminous spheres that have been around longer than humans. In fact, it has been said that, “We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff.” [1] Just like any other animate object, stars also go through a life cycle. They grow up, live their life, and slowly but surely die out. Stars can live for billions and even trillions of years. The life span of a star depends on how fast or how slow they use up and burn their nuclear fuel. The size of the star also determines the longevity.
Many inventors and inventions affected the world politically, economically, and socially. Scientific advances, navigational advances, and technological advances affected the world in many ways. These inventions were especially useful for European nations in battles, in exploration, and in imperialism. The characteristics of European imperialism affected many countries in the world and changed history. Also, European imperialism had a huge effect on Asian and African nations in many ways. They took over many countries, enslaved people, and imperialized.
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, has yet to be discovered as in depth as Juno will. NASA New Frontiers recently established the Juno Mission to observe Jupiter (Ionescu 1). The spacecraft is currently on route to Jupiter and it is set to arrive in 2016. Juno will orbit Jupiter thirty-three times total before shutting down (Ionescu 1). Juno will observe Jupiter with deeper observation than can be seen by a telescope. The Juno Spacecraft is a project made to discover Jupiter’s high winds, a possible water source, and the planetary structure.
Titan’s temperature has been measured to be extremely cold, in spite of that, liquid water is still present on Titan’s surface. When a coment strikes a moon, episodic events as long as 1000 years of liquid water; thus short terrestrial prebiotic synthesys will be able to occur because of the conditions given. Another potential candidate for prebiotic chemistry in water is Cryovolcanism.
Mars is a very similar planet to earth in relation to size and atmosphere. Therefore it seemed like the most likely place to search for life. At the end of the 19th century, an American named Percival Lowell built himself an observatory so that it was possible for him to study Mars in intimate detail when its orbit was closest to Earth. At this time it had recently been suggested that the planet had a system of channels on the surface, present from the evaporation of flowing water. Looking through his telescope Lowell became convinced he could see a network of artificial canals. This led him to believe that there were intelligent beings on Mars who had built these canals. However, spacecraft have now visited Mars and found that there is no evidence of water at all. It is now thought that the lines he could see were the combination of Lowell's overactive imagination, and scratches on the lens of his telescope. We are now searching one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, as this seems to be the next likely place to hold life.
Ever since the beginning of time there have been stars. Not only stars in the sky, but moons, planets, and even galaxies! Astronomy is defined as the branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole. In other words it is the study of space, planets, and stars. Throughout the ages, many people have used astronomy to help them learn about the universe, our own planet, and even make predictions about life itself. Understanding astronomy means understanding where it originated, the different groups/cultures that used it, and modern purposes of the science of the stars.
In the 1930s and 40s Europeans experienced violence and disorder on an unprecedented scale. Although Europe had seen mass social, political, economic, and cultural changes in the past, as with the Enlightenment, the revolutions of the 1860s and 1870s, even going as far back as the Renaissance, never before had Europe experienced such a massive shift in social structure and power dynamics as what resulted from World War II. The destruction of towns and cultural centers, the relocation of groups rigidly defined by ethnicity or nationality, and the reversal of power dynamics and the effect on nationalism changed the way the European defined their identity as a European. The European identity split according to the two postwar experiences of civilians