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Ephemeris: 12/12/2024 – Jupiter’s moon Europa

December 12, 2024

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, December 12th. Today the Sun will be up for 8 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 5:02, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:12. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 6:24 tomorrow morning.

Jupiter’s four bright Galilean moons are nearly planet size. In fact Ganymede, the third one out, is larger than Mercury. But the most interesting moon to NASA and to scientists looking for life in the solar system, is the second moon out, Europa. When the Voyager spacecraft flew past Jupiter in the late 1970s they photographed a rather smooth surface on it with a lot of cracks and grooves, but very few craters. This meant Europa surface is quite young and has been evolving over time kind of like the Earth’s surface. The reason is that it appears Europa has a vast ocean under a thick crust of ice. Europa is heated by both radioactivity in its core and tidal forces caused by Jupiter and the other moon’s gravitational pull on it.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Jupiter's moon Europa
Jupiter’s satellite Europa, slightly smaller than the Earth’s moon, has a fresh ice surface with very little cratering. The ice floats on a deep water ocean supposedly containing more water than all the Earth’s oceans. This is a place NASA sent the Europa Clipper spacecraft to look for the chemistry of life. Credit NASA/JPL, Ted Stryk.
Europa’s possible interior. Credit: NASA/JPL.

On Earth, wherever there’s water there’s life. Can the same be said of Europa?

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