New Discoveries About Jupiter's Moon Europa to Be Announced Wednesday

The icy moon Europa rising above Jupiter’s cloud tops. The picture was one of a handful of the Jupiter system that New Horizons took primarily for artistic, rather than scientific, value. CREDIT: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute View full size image

Scientists will announce new findings about Jupiter's intriguing moon Europa during a NASA press conference Wednesday (Nov. 16).

One of the moon's most exciting features is an ocean of salty water thought to exist beneath its frozen surface. Because liquid water is thought to be necessary for life, many researchers hope microbial organisms may survive in this buried sea.

Overall, Europa is slightly smaller than Earth's moon, and is thought to have an iron core and a rocky mantle.

Speakers at the 1 p.m. EST briefing will include:

- Britney Schmidt, postdoctoral fellow, Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin 
- Tori Hoehler, astrobiologist and senior research scientist, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. 
- Louise Prockter, planetary scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. 
- Tom Wagner, program scientist, cryospheric sciences, Earth Science Division, NASA Headquarters 

The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

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