• Life on Europa
    72 replies, posted
Increasingly more evidence points us towards a huge ocean under Europa, Jupiter's moon. The first sign of water tells us that the moon is capable of hosting life. One theory states that Jupiter's strong gravity constantly stretches the moon, creating heat from the kinetic energy. Europa's thick layer of ice makes it a hard task for a probe to get anywhere near the target. What are your opinions?
Very likely
No. It is too far from sun to be good habitat for life.
I want to believe, although I think it's incredibly unlikely.
Very unlikely.
[QUOTE=overpain;34110064]No. It is too far from sun to be good habitat for life.[/QUOTE] This, way too cold to live on its surface.
I think, other than earth, Europa is the best place to look for life. Although I'm quite sure that there's no life form on Europa that could talk with us :v: [editline]8th January 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Loures;34110168]This, way too cold to live on its surface.[/QUOTE] If there's life on Europa, we'd find it in its oceans, not on the surface.
[QUOTE=rosthouse;34110170]I think, other than earth, Europa is the best place to look for life. Although I'm quite sure that there's no life form on Europa that could talk with us :v: [editline]8th January 2012[/editline] If there's life on Europa, we'd find it in its oceans, not on the surface.[/QUOTE] Ocean is also too cold. And there is no air on atmosphere, so there won't air in the water too.
[QUOTE=overpain;34110466]Ocean is also too cold. And there is no air on atmosphere, so there won't air in the water too.[/QUOTE] If there was life on Europa it wouldn't need oxygen, it would have evolved a different system.
[QUOTE=overpain;34110466]Ocean is also too cold. And there is no air on atmosphere, so there won't air in the water too.[/QUOTE] Scientists have found arsenic-based lifeforms in volcanic lakes, there is no reason why there couldn't be some kind of nitrogen/methane-based lifeforms on Europa, which wouldn't require O2 to live.
[QUOTE=overpain;34110466]Ocean is also too cold. And there is no air on atmosphere, so there won't air in the water too.[/QUOTE] If the water is fluid, you can expect it to be at least 0° Celsius. And we know of life forms here on earth that live in such an environment. Also, although you said air, I'm pretty sure you meant oxygen.
[QUOTE=rosthouse;34110653]If the water is fluid, you can expect it to be at least 0° Celsius. And we know of life forms here on earth that live in such an environment. Also, although you said air, I'm pretty sure you meant oxygen.[/QUOTE] You're forgetting to account for pressure. But yeah, we get extremophiles here on Earth, no reason why life wouldn't evolve that way from the get-go in an extreme environment.
[QUOTE=overpain;34110064]No. It is too far from sun to be good habitat for life.[/QUOTE] Could be based on chemosynthesis as opposed to photosynthesis. Like you know, countless bacteria present on earth in areas where there's no sun at all.
I think if there was going to be life anywhere in our solar system that wasn't earth, it would be on Europa. Even if that was past tense, and it had all died out, to know that we as humans aren't just an anomaly would be fascinating and a little comforting.
[IMG]http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/2659/europaeuropadvdcover.jpg[/IMG] Obviously. But no, I think It's too far from the sun. Maybe extremeophile bacteria, but not intelligent life.
Why are you asking Facepunch? We aren't scientists, so how do our opinions (with none or little facts to back them up) hold any ground?
To be honest, a lot of the debate threads should be left to Stephen Hawking and other great minds, not for a bunch of extreme liberal teenagers with barely a high school education to debate. We don't know crap. So I will say this in response to the thread, I would hope so but I think scientists are more interested in finding it on Mars.
If there is life it's chemosynthetic extremeophiles feeding off the hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor because photosynthesis would be impossible due to the ice and distance from the sun. For that the planet would need to be geologically active. The ocean there has the potential to be incredibility deep. Something like 20 kilometers. (earths ocean is only 7 miles at its deepest point). Pressure there would be incredible. Europa is a very young rock and I'm not sure if it has undergone the necessary processes to develop primitive cells, whatever that may be. We won't know unless we go.
It's very possible because the "Push and Pull" gravitational effects from jupiter cause the inner moon to heat, possibly creating heat vents and being volcanicically active. Microbes, and aquatic life like eels or such could be alive down there.
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.
Jupiter's tidal effects heat the moon to the point that the oceans could sustain life. Temperature is not an issue. The radiation emitted by Jupiter, however, is lethal on Europa, which doesn't have a thick enough atmosphere to absorb the rays either. I haven't come across any life with such a high tolerance to radiation. There also isn't enough light under the ice to support photosynthesis, so plant life is impossible, and a food web with complex, multicellular life could not exist. As timmyvos said, this might all change if Jupiter was to magically meet the conditions for stardom and begin fusing its hydrogen.
Life on earth in geothermal vents don't use oxygen to respire, but they are still [B]wholly dependent for food on other organisms that use oxygen[/B]
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;34118402]Life on earth in geothermal vents don't use oxygen to respire, but they are still [B]wholly dependent for food on other organisms that use oxygen[/B][/QUOTE] They have a separate ecosystem down there, they do not require them because they feed off of the chemicals produced by the heat vents
[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;34118489]They have a separate ecosystem down there, they do not require them because they feed off of the chemicals produced by the heat vents[/QUOTE] no they don't that's a fucking myth theres' not such thing as a completely decoupled ecosystem
This debate is somewhat flawed in the fact that we still have no idea what kind of factors life can form and thrive in. So really the answer is, who knows?
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;34118402]Life on earth in geothermal vents don't use oxygen to respire, but they are still [B]wholly dependent for food on other organisms that use oxygen[/B][/QUOTE] Chemosythetic organisms don't require anything more than the methane and other chemicals that come from the vents. Earths oxygen is here in the first place only because it was a waste product from photosynthesis. Oxygen is not necessary.
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;34118658]no they don't that's a fucking myth theres' not such thing as a completely decoupled ecosystem[/QUOTE] uh there isn't alot down there, and their whole lives depend on the heat giving vents or else they would die of cold. It's like a sun for them E.G.- Shrimp, microbes, crabs taht exist down in the depths
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;34118658]no they don't that's a fucking myth theres' not such thing as a completely decoupled ecosystem[/QUOTE] I'm sure I read an article semi-recently about scientists discovering a colony of bacteria or something that might aswell have evolved on a different planet because they were completely cut off from other ecosystems.
We might get lucky and find fossilized bacteria, but that's prolly it.
[QUOTE=squids_eye;34121664]I'm sure I read an article semi-recently about scientists discovering a colony of bacteria or something that might aswell have evolved on a different planet because they were completely cut off from other ecosystems.[/QUOTE] If that were the case it'd completely revolutionize science - life occurring twice on the same planet on different occasions?
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