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Hubble has found even more
evidence of water vapor plumes

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on the ocean world Europa. Last
September we announced that the

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Hubble Space Telescope had taken
multiple images of what could be

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water vapor plumes on Jupiter’s
moon, Europa - an icy world

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that’s thought to have a
subsurface global ocean of

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water. That same team of
astronomers has now taken

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additional ultraviolet images of
probable plumes on this icy

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moon. While these plumes seem
intermittent, they appear to

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have repeated in the same
location. Pieces of the puzzle

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of what’s going on with Europa
are continuing to come together.

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When the Galileo spacecraft was
orbiting Jupiter in the late 90s

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and early 2000s, it gathered
data to build a thermal map of

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Europa, and it appears the water
vapor plumes Hubble is observing

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correspond with a relatively
warm region on Europa’s southern

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surface about 200 miles across.
This thermal anomaly the Galileo

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spacecraft observed suggested
geologic activity was happening

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in this location, a conclusion
now further supported by

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Hubble’s recent observations of
water vapor plumes. This

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phenomenon may be similar to
what the Cassini spacecraft has

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seen at Saturn’s moon Enceladus,
where there are also water vapor

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plumes associated with warm
regions on the moon’s surface.

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The warm spot on Europa has a
couple possible explanations.

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Perhaps this location is warmed
by liquid water a mile under the

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surface pushing up through
cracks in the ice. Or perhaps

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the fine mist that’s falling
from the water vapor plume

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changes the structure of the
surface ice grains, allowing

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them to retain heat longer than
the surrounding landscape. Now

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that Hubble has shown Europa
probably has water vapor plumes

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associated with warm spots on
its surface, this information

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will be used for planning NASA's
upcoming Europa Clipper mission.

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Europa Clipper will be able to
take up-close observations of

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these probable plumes Hubble
identified, and will be equipped

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with instruments that can detect
any additional warm spots and

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water vapor plumes. This will
provide insight into Europa’s

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chemistry, geology, and
potential conditions for

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harboring alien life.

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www.nasa.gov/hubble
@NASAHubble