The Earth's core is the innermost layer, a region of immense heat and pressure that remains largely inaccessible to direct study. Our understanding of the core comes primarily from seismic wave analysis, which allows geophysicists to infer its composition and physical properties.
Europa is not supposed to look the way it does. Jupiter's icy moon is scarred by a chaotic patchwork of fractured terrain, criss crossed ridges, and disrupted surface regions that suggest something dynamic is happening beneath its frozen shell. Scientists have long suspected that a vast liquid ocean, kept warm by the gravitational kneading of Jupiter's enormous gravity, lies hidden beneath that ice. Now, a new study using the James Webb Space Telescope is adding a crucial piece to the puzzle, and the implications reach right to the heart of astrobiology.
