92-Water Vapor Detected In Europa’s Atmosphere

Observations of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have revealed the presence of persistent water vapor — but, mysteriously, only in one hemisphere.

Europa harbors a vast ocean underneath its icy surface, which might offer conditions hospitable for life. This result advances astronomers’ understanding of the atmospheric structure of icy moons, and it helps lay the groundwork for planned science missions to the Jovian system to, in part, explore whether an environment half-a-billion miles from the Sun could support life.