NASA has announced that it has found evidence of water plumes erupting from the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, using images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, hinting that the Jovian moon’s subsurface oceans — oceans that scientists consider to be a good candidate as a host for extraterrestrial life — may be more accessible than what was once thought.
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NASA has unveiled an array of nine instrument packages that are to be included on an upcoming space probe that will be sent to Jupiter’s moon Europa, of which will include sensors that will look for evidence of life.

Europa is considered to be a good candidate for harboring life, with what scientists believe to be a liquid, salty ocean over a rocky surface, and hydrothermal vents that could provide heat and nutrients for potential organisms. Conditions similar to these are also found on Earth, and teem with life.
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Shuttle space trips may be over, but spacecraft launches are still going on, and on August 5th, NASA launched the spacecraft Juno, which will explore Jupiter’s secrets. Astronomers think that the presence of Jupiter may help explain how the Earth came to exist.

Jupiter is huge–the rest of our solar system would fit inside it, with room to spare. Scientists think that large planets like this, in an outer orbit, absorb some of the blows from asteroids that might otherwise destroy smaller, inner planets (like Earth), so they are on the lookout for solar systems that contain Jupiter-like planets.
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