\n<\/p>\n
Artist\u2019s impression of Europa (foreground) with Jupiter to the right and the moon Io in the distance.<\/p>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
The ocean inside Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa may be carbonated \u2013 not in the sense that it\u2019s fizzy, but rather that it\u2019s full of carbon dioxide. This idea, which comes from observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), may be significant because carbon is an important element for life \u2013 making it a point in favour of habitable conditions beneath Europa\u2019s icy shell.<\/p>\n
Two groups independently analysed the JWST observations, and both found the same thing. Carbon dioxide seems to be seeping up to Europa\u2019s icy surface. It is most abundant in an area called Tara Regio, where the ground is jumbled in what\u2019s called chaos terrain \u2013 a mess of pits, ridges, cracks and domes. Tara Regio is considered to be a relatively young area of the surface, shaped by interactions with the underground ocean over the past several million years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strongest signal is coming from the chaos terrain, which is geologically fresher than other areas of Europa,\u201d says Geronimo Villanueva at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. \u201cThat means it\u2019s highly likely that this material is new, and it has to come from the interior.\u201d The concentrations were also raised in other areas of chaos terrain, and were not a match to what we\u2019d expect if the carbon dioxide was brought to Europa by external sources, like comets.<\/p>\n This is good for the prospect of life beneath Europa\u2019s icy shell, since all known living organisms rely on carbon as a building block for more complex molecules called organics. \u201cCarbon is a biologically crucial element, so it\u2019s important to figure out how it got to Europa, how much of it is there, and in what form it\u2019s there,\u201d says Samantha Trumbo at Cornell University in New York.<\/p>\n So far, JWST has only taken one look at Europa. With plans for three more views, we should eventually have a more complete picture of its surface, giving us an abundance of clues as to the makeup and potential habitability of its seas.<\/p>\n