Latest Moons of Jupiter Stories

Jupiter's moon Europa is just as far away as ever, but new research is bringing scientists closer to being able to explore its tantalizing ice-covered ocean and determine its potential for harboring life. "We've learned a lot about Europa in the past few years," says William B. McKinnon, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. "Before we were almost sure that there was an ocean, but now the scientific community has come to a consensus that there most...

There could be life on Jupiter's moon, Europa. The qualities thought necessary for life to arise are liquid water, an energy source, and certain biogenic elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and Europa likely has all of these in abundance. The moon's icy shell is scarred with a crazy-quilt pattern of cracks and grooves, and beneath that outer layer of ice hides a global ocean. What sort of life may be swimming there? Answering that question partly depends on the flavor of the...

Boston University (BU) researchers published recently the first clear evidence of how gases from Jupiter's tiny moon's volcanoes can lead to the largest visible gas cloud in the solar system. Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, has a moon named Io that is just 100 km larger in radius than Earth's Moon. According to lead researcher Michael Mendillo, professor of electrical and computer engineering and astronomy at BU, there are over 100 active volcanic sites on Io making it the...

Massive Jupiter is undergoing dramatic atmospheric changes that have never been seen before with the keen "eye" of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Jupiter's turbulent clouds are always changing as they encounter atmospheric disturbances while sweeping around the planet at hundreds of miles per hour. But these Hubble images reveal a rapid transformation in the shape and color of Jupiter's clouds near the equator, marking an entire face of the globe.The planet is wrapped in bands of...

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has provided new data on the Jupiter system, stunning scientists with never-before-seen perspectives of the giant planet's atmosphere, rings, moons and magnetosphere.These new views include the closest look yet at the Earth-sized "Little Red Spot" storm churning materials through Jupiter's cloud tops; detailed images of small satellites herding dust and boulders through Jupiter's faint rings; and of volcanic eruptions and circular grooves on the...

So you thought Northern Lights were big in Alaska? "That's nothing," says Randy Gladstone of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. "Jupiter has auroras bigger than our entire planet."Last month, Gladstone and colleagues used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to capture this picture:The purple ring traces Jupiter's X-ray auroras. Gladstone calls them "Northern Lights on steroids. They're hundreds of times more energetic than auroras on...

ESA's Rosetta and NASA's New Horizons are working together in their joint campaign to observe Jupiter. A preliminary analysis of the data from Rosetta's Alice ultraviolet spectrometer indicates that the data quality is excellent and that good science is expected to follow.New Horizons made its closest approach to Jupiter on 28 February 2007. Its principal objective was to use the gravity of the giant planet to slingshot it onwards to its rendezvous with Pluto, planned for 2015. However, as...

Andy Cheng has seen it all. The scientist from Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Lab has worked on the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Cassini mission to Saturn, the NEAR mission to asteroid 433 Eros and many others during his decades-long career. Alien vistas are old hat to him.But even he was amazed when he laid eyes on this photo of Io's Tvashtar volcano, taken Feb. 28th by the New Horizons spacecraft:Omigod! I can't believe it. "That was my first reaction," says Cheng. "The...

ESA and NASA are mounting a joint campaign to observe Jupiter over the next few weeks with two different spacecraft. Rosetta will watch the big picture from its current position near Mars, whilst New Horizons will take close-up data as it speeds past the largest planet in our Solar System on its journey to Pluto.The co-ordinated observational campaign of Jupiter using Rosetta and New Horizons began this week. Jupiter remains a fascinating world of scientific mystery. "This is an...

On February 28, 2007, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Jupiter on its ultimate journey to Pluto. This flyby gave scientists a unique opportunity to study Jupiter using the package of instruments available on New Horizons, while coordinating observations from both space- and ground-based telescopes including NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.In preparation for New Horizon's approach of Jupiter, Chandra took 5-hour exposures of Jupiter on February 8, 10, and 24th. In...