NASA Finds Evidence of Water 'Plumes' Erupting on Jupiter's Moon

NASA scientists confirmed Monday that they have again detected evidence of water beneath the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa in a particularly dramatic way: The Hubble Space Telescope recorded bursts of water erupting from the moon's surface into the atmosphere.

This suggests there may be oceans of water beneath the planets surface.

Why is this important? It touches on perhaps the most pressing question astronomers can ask: Could life exist on other planets or moons?

On Earth, whereever we find water, we find life. Experts believe that if life exists elsewhere in the universe, it is most likely to be found alongside water.

"All the ingredients are there to make us think Europa is the next place to go" in the search for alien life, NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan said at an event of the non-profit Planetary Society in 2014.

However, the information gathered by Hubble only suggests the presence of water on Europa, and it is not yet definitive proof.

"Europa's ocean is considered to be one of the most promising places that could potentially harbor life in the solar system," said Geoff Yoder, acting associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in a press release. "These plumes, if they do indeed exist, may provide another way to sample Europa's subsurface."

And these are not mere earthly geysers — the plumes of water rise around 125 miles into the atmosphere. They appear to arise intermittently. Out of 10 observations of the moon as it passed in front of Jupiter, the researchers saw evidence of the water bursts three times.

“Previously there’s been just one piece of evidence that these things exist,” said William Sparks, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, who led the team that found the evidence of water.

Previously, the only signs of water on Europa were discovered by Lorenz Roth, a researcher with the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Roth notes that Sparks' team likely wasn't observing the same eruptions of water that he had previously discovered near Europa's south pole.

“Unless something appears very close to the south pole, it can hardly be the same plume,” Roth said in the journal Nature.

To get a better sense of what's going on under the surface of Europa, researchers may need to look beyond the Hubble telescope.

“We are working at the limits of Hubble’s unique capabilities,” said Sparks.

"Hubble's unique capabilities enabled it to capture these plumes, once again demonstrating Hubble's ability to make observations it was never designed to make," added Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, in the press release. "This observation opens up a world of possibilities, and we look forward to future missions — such as the James Webb Space Telescope — to follow up on this exciting discovery."

Photo credit: Artist's rendering from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center