NASA Finds Water On Jupiter’s Ganymede!

How NASA just found water on Jupiter's Ganymede moon!

#nasa #space

One planet that has gotten a lot less attention is Jupiter. And moving into this year, NASA has reported their first ever evidence that there is water vapour on Jupiter’s Ganymede moon.

Currently, scientists know Jupiter has at least 79 moons. While many people have likely never heard of it before, Jupiter’s Ganymede moon is not only Jupiter’s largest moon, but also the largest moon in our entire solar system. For comparison, Jupiter’s Ganymede moon is larger than Mercury, Pluto, and even two-thirds the size of Mars. If it were orbiting the sun, it would most definitely be classified as a planet given its sheer size.

So far there have been several space probes that have explored Ganymede, beginning with the Pioneer 10 in 1973. In using the Pioneer 10 space probe, scientists were able to use infrared measurements to first discover that Ganymede’s surface was covered in ice. Moving into 1977, the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes refined measurements of Ganymede’s size, and lastly in 1995, the Galileo space probe helped in discovering Ganymede’s magnetic field, making it the only moon in our solar system to have a magnetic field. This magnetic field causes auroras to form near the icy moon’s north and south poles similar to Earth.

Moving into 2021, a study was published by Nature Astronomy where researchers were able to find evidence that there was in-fact water vapour on Jupiter’s Ganymede moon. According to NASA, the water vapour on Ganymede forms when the solid ice on the surface turns directly from solid into gas, skipping over the liquid stage, in a process known as sublimation.

In reviewing past images of Ganymede, researchers realized that the surface temperature varied widely throughout the day on its surface. Around mid-day near the equator on Ganymede’s surface, it becomes warm enough that the ice surface sublimates small amount of water molecules. Based on Ganymede’s climate, researchers were able to closely match where we could expect water in the moon’s atmosphere through several ultraviolet images taken by the Hubble telescope.

While scientists haven’t commented on the possibility of life beneath Ganymede’s surface, some have gone on the record in saying that Jupiter’s fourth largest moon Europa may be one of the best candidates for life in our solar system outside of Earth, given there is evidence of liquid water in addition to silicate mantle existing below Europa’s icy surface, and water is seen as a major requirement for life. Finding liquid water is a crucial part in humanity’s quest to find life or other habitable planets outside of Earth, and with these new discoveries surrounding Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede, we continue to get closer every year.

So how exactly did astronomers find out there was water vapour on Jupiter’s Ganymede moon? Well, researchers were able to make this new discovery using NASA’s 31-year-old Hubble space telescope. The Hubble telescope was originally launched back on April 24th 1990 after decades of research and planning. Although it’s not the largest telescope, it’s one of the most versatile and has become a vital research tool. By using ultraviolet images taken by the Hubble telescope, scientists were able to compare 1998 observations of Jupiter’s Ganymede moon to 2018 observations, and in doing so, they found discrepancies.

While this new discovery of water vapour on Jupiter’s largest moon doesn’t say much about Ganymede’s potential for alien life, this new finding helps us better understand its atmosphere. Previously it was only known that there were oxygen molecules present whenever charged particles eroded Ganymede’s icy surface.

[appleandeveofficial]

With oceans bigger than Earths laying deep below Ganymede’s icy surface, do you think there may be aquatic life living below? Let me know down below in the comments!

[petertrevorah]

Minor annoyance: repeated images of Io when referring to Ganymede. Why?

[nikobelic]

I don’t understand why it’s such a shock anymore we find water in places. I could be wrong but I thought water was one of the most abundant molecules in space.

[Dk-hhuc]

i think it's possible, solely because of the earth documentary that showed there's next level insects living under cave which is covered by so many layers and there's no oxygen so, yes some creatures can survive on a start of the planet, midst there's a sun to create / give vitamins to organisms and water to grow in.

[mr.stealyourgirl]

we didn't even fully explore our own ocean yet

[jensbang]

Yes...I cant imagine life not existing everywhere throughout the universe.

[elwood]

Great video! Take some breaths man, ur goin crazy fast lol. Look forward to more =)

[mvpmxjh]

i have been tuning in jupiter juno space craft since 2008, and wow. now i have to wait again until 2029. omg.

[Hannodb]

Mars and Pluto has way more in common with one another than the 4 Gallilean moons and the 70 or so asteroids orbiting Jupiter, or even Jupiter itself. These moons are in much greater need of reclassification than Pluto ever were.

[jeffw]

NASA should be working with companies to jump start asteroid mining and the space economy, instead of spending BILLIONS on science missions that only confirm what we already know.

[janwarnawa]

Ongelooflijk langzaam he die technieken van ons 7 jaar onderweg naar Jupiter techniek van begin jaartelling

[charlesday]

Yeah I went fishing there last week!
I used sugar ice cubes for bait !
At -171 degrees I had to wear two pairs of socks !

[poruatokin]

Your videos would be far more appealing if you weren't talking so fast, especially leave a pause at the end of each sentence.

[utkuerkan]

Nice educational video, please submit similar content in near future. I appreciate your works and endeavours, there possibly is water under the crust of Ganymede or Europa etc. it is subject to scruitiny. Humanity shall create living habitats on such planets/moons in future for research and to create new technologies / innovative products to increase humanities prosperity and health and well being to eradicate diseases. :-)

[nikolaiiliev]

In the distant future we will pull out Ganymede from its orbit around Jupiter and put it in orbit around the Sun, close to Earth . And voila ! We will have 2 earths .

[sprootown]

Those moons are someday going to be a new system of human civilization. From there it's inter-stellar voyaging.

[hwanin]

First, humanity should explore earth's oceans before space exploration...

[dogcreek-customs]

I forget which moon it was of it bein Saturn or Jupiter but one of their big moons recieve so much radiation from one of the big gas planets a few years back they said it wasn't possible for life, I'm starting to think it was Ganymede.

[nnamdiekweariri]

If there's life down below Ganymede, the question is, what type of life would you find there? We shouldn't expect to find the type of life we have here on earth. For Example, a creature with a methane blood or stuffs like that😀

[CesareVesdani]

Yes, it is true that aquatic life can thrive in oceans bigger than Earth.