Prof. Xianzhe Jia of U-M CLASP will give a virtual lecture as part of the CLASP Seminar Series.

This is a zoom virtual event. Please contact lhopkins@umich.edu to request zoom access.

"Searching for Water Plumes on Europa"

ABSTRACT:
Jupiter’s moon, Europa, is one of the best places in our solar system to search for extraterrestrial life because it is believed to harbor a global ocean beneath its ice cover. In recent years, following the discovery of water jets spewing out of Saturn’s icy moon, Enceladus, numerous efforts have been undertaken to look for plume activity at Europa. Data that have been analyzed so far include telescopic observations covering a wide range of wavelengths as well as in situ data acquired by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft that conducted multiple close flybys of the moon during its mission. Signatures of putative water plumes have indeed been identified in Hubble Space Telescope images and a re-analysis of the Galileo magnetic field and plasma wave data suggests that the spacecraft passed through a plume during its closest encounter with Europa. In this presentation we will review current evidence of plumes on Europa and discuss various challenges encountered in the search for plume activity. We will also provide an outlook for future missions to the Jupiter system, such as the Europa Clipper and JUICE missions, that will offer new opportunities for probing plume activity at Europa.

Please join us!