Space is a pretty crazy place.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Space can be a pretty wild place and while planets like Jupiter might have
00:07constant red-eye storms that have been raging for as long as mankind is known,
00:11its moons like Europa are just as nuts. For years scientists thought the Europa
00:15was a massive ball of ice. Now however they believe it has more of an ice shell.
00:19Underneath there is a massive highly salinated ocean, likely 40 to 100 miles
00:23deep, meaning at only a quarter of the size it has around twice the water of
00:27Earth. But now according to a new study, below that ice there are likely snow
00:31storms that form underwater with snow that falls upside down. Scientists took a
00:35look at Antarctica's ice sheets to understand how Europa's ice shell may
00:39have formed. Underneath ice in Antarctica what's called frazzled ice often forms
00:43or salty coagulated ice that builds up underneath the surface. But it's often
00:46much less salty than the sea ice around it, meaning Europa's ice crust likely is
00:50as well. Experts believe that Europa's ice sheet is 10 to 15 miles thick, meaning
00:55much more near freshwater sits right at the surface than we could have ever
00:58expected.