Europa – A World of Ice
Europa – the
smallest of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter - is a very
interesting astronomical object. It was noticed for the first time
in 1610 and it amazed Galileo. That discovery was a very important
event confirming the heliocentric theory. Voyager and
Galileo have given us the pictures, which show a cracked ice
surface of Europa. The cracks visible at Europa suggest that under
the ice there is the second in the solar system ocean of the liquid
water. The success of a mission, which is planned today by a small
group of scientists, aimed to confirm the presence of the ocean,
will start a search of a primeval life. I think that a confirmed
message about the ocean of water outside the Earth may arouse a lot
of people interest and it even now it would be a good thing to take
an interest in Europa. In my report I will characterize that
mysterious ice world. I want to show that observations of that
miniature model of our solar system are not difficult and everybody
who has got even small binoculars with the 10x zoom and a bit of
persistence can observe four satellites of Jupiter. And I want to
urge a lot of lovers of astronomy to make the
observations.
