Jupiter’s Frozen Moon Is Studded With 50-Foot Blades of Ice
Scientists envision the dramatic surface of Europa, one of the best candidates for alien life in the solar system.
At a distance, the worlds in our solar system resemble marbles, gleaming spheres suspended in the inkiness of space. Perhaps no world fits this description better than Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. Europa is covered in a layer of ice—a hardy lid for the salty ocean that scientists suspect churns below, . The icy surface is fractured in places, producing , but it craters, cliffs, and mountains, making it one of the smoothest surfaces in the solar system. Such features were likely erased from the moon over time, perhaps as the icy crust settled under its own weight.
