Hubble spies on Europa shooting alien juice from its southern pole

Or rather : "I wonder what it tastes like ?"

Let's face it, we are the most advanced intelligence in our solar system and we can hardly boast of being inquisitive and comprehending. The basic reaction of 99% of Humanity in the face of The Unknown is panic and/or aggression, just like any animal out there.

Actual animals, on the other hand, usually have the intelligence to not hang around when they're out of their depth.

If we do encounter another life form, either we are technologically superior and will be a hell of an effort not to slaughter them all for their Unobtanium, or we are technologically inferior and we had better pray they don't need our Unobtanium. The chances of a draw most are, in my humble opinion, next to nil, so I will not consider that option other than to say : First (Last?) Interstellar War.

Re: How did Clarke know ?!

I'm sure Ancient Aliens is working on an episode that will mention this, and that guy with the crazy hair will say "How did Clarke know Europa was special? How did he figure out geosynchronous orbit?" He must have got this knowledge from an extraterrestrial source". That show doesn't give credit for humans figuring out anything on their own after fire and flint arrowheads :)

Re: How did Clarke know ?!

The theory that there may be water on Europa has been around for quite some time. This is just the first bit of proof that there may be water there.

Re: How did Clarke know ?!

The suspicion that water was there stems from the thermal modelling one can do of a planet or moon.

It is a known distance from Jupiter and likely subject to strong tidal forces (though not as strong as Io, which is closer), so it'll get heated up. It clearly has an icy outer layer due to its brightness (it'd be a lot darker if it was rocky). Ice + the right amount of heat = water. In comparison Io is too hot for the water to have hung around, and Ganymede is too cold for the same process to take place. All of this can be worked out from earth based observations, knowledge of how rocks behave under pressure, spectroscopy / Mk I eyeball to identify the surface material, etc.

The various flybys that have occurred since Clarke wrote 2001 (in the 1960s) have only reinforced that analysis, and now Hubble (the 'scope that keeps on giving, tremendous value for money in the end) has practically confirmed it. The folk using Hubble to look for these jets were no doubt inspired by the accidental and most fortuitous discovery of similar jets on Enceladus.

So, all that remains is for Elon Musk to send a rocket up there with a big, empty tank and bring back a few thousand gallons of what would be the most expensive, and probably the least drinkable, mineral water and sell it in exclusive shops.

Clarke was a pretty clever guy, credited with inventing (well, at least nailing it) the concept of a geostationary comms satellite.

Re: "Becoming A TOTAL Earth Science Skeptic" at FauxScienceSlayer

Did Jeremy say you could leave the conference?

Go on back inside with the rest of the loonies.

Re: "Becoming A TOTAL Earth Science Skeptic" at FauxScienceSlayer

Keep taking your dried frog pills, son. Keep taking them...

Re: "Becoming A TOTAL Earth Science Skeptic" at FauxScienceSlayer

UNMENTIONED is the Bridgman Effect where all metals undergo fission under 50,000 atmospheres ... This explains the Europa HEAT and pressure.

Well, if you ignore the fact that P. W. Bridgman's Effect is a non-nuclear electrical effect resulting in absorption or generation of heat because of non-uniform current distribution in anisotropic crystals, sure it could explain Europa's HEAT and pressure.

But then you'd run into the issue that Europa's core pressure doesn't exceed 25,000 - 30,000 atmospheres. Low gravity, low radius, and low density make for relatively modest core pressures compared to places like Earth.

Wouldn't Ceres be a better bet?

Yep. And if anyone's concerned about Ceres' gravity - it does take several hundred meters per second to escape - its 9-hour rotation and low gravity puts synchronous orbit pretty close to the surface. You could make an orbital elevator from steel cable, never mind Kevlar or carbon fiber.