April 9, 1997
Every candle on your cake is a tiny imitation of the stars that made you possible.
Oceans Under Jupiter's Europa? Credit:
Birthday · April 9, 1997
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APOD published April 9, 1997. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Is there life beneath Europa? Today, new results are being announced (at about 2 pm EST) about the possibility of oceans under Jupiter's moon Europa. The existence of such oceans increases the likelihood that some sort of life exists beneath the fractured ice planes of Jupiter's smoothest satellite. Results from the February 20th flyby of the robot spacecraft Galileo past Europa now clearly indicate that either large bodies of water or slush exist under a relatively thin ice sheet covering the moon's surface, at least in some regions. Areas on the surface are marked by very few craters, indicating that water flowed there in the time since most craters formed.