Surprise! Jupiter's ocean moon Europa may not have a fully formed core

By Charles Q. Choi published about 4 hours ago

'We found that Europa may have spent most of its life without a fully formed metallic core — that is, if such a core exists at all.'



jupiter's moon europa, its icy surface criscrossed by dark reddish-brown lines, against the blackness of space

Jupiter's intriguing ocean moon Europa, as seen by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute)

The core of Jupiter's ocean moon Europa might have formed billions of years after the rest of it did, if indeed it has formed at all, a new study finds.

Europa, Jupiter's fourth-largest moon, is covered in an icy shell. However, researchers suspect that underneath its frozen crust, Europa hosts a saltwater ocean churning over its rocky mantle. It may possess "more liquid water than Earth," study lead author Kevin Trinh, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University in Tempe, told Space.com.

Previous research suggests that Europa may be habitable — for instance, seafloor volcanoes and hydrothermal vents may help deliver life-sustaining heat and biologically useful molecules into its ocean. In order to know whether such potentially life-supporting activity might take place on Europa, scientists must understand the nature of the Jupiter moon's interior and how it might have evolved over time.

"While Europa is famously known as a potentially habitable ocean world, over 90% of Europa's mass comes from rock and metal," Trinh said.

More:
https://www.space.com/jupiter-ocean-moon-europa-no-fully-formed-core