Europa
This is a brief intro to one of Venus' moons which is called Europa. This little moon is shelled in ice and may have a global ocean underneath this skin. At the bottom of the ocean, if there are thermal vents, we may find simple forms of life (see video 1), there may even be fish! What has this to do with haiku? Absolutely nothing, and yet...
In Greek mythology Europa (Greek Ευρώπη Eurṓpē) was a Phoenician woman of high lineage, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The name Europa occurs in Hesiod's long list of daughters of primordial Oceanus and Tethys. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story; as Kerényi points out "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa." - Wikipedia (Video: Hydrothermal Vents on Earth)
Could Jupiter Moon Harbor Fish-Size Life?
Victoria Jaggard
November 16, 2009
In the oceans of a moon hundreds of millions of miles from the sun, something fishy may be alive—right now.
Below its icy crust Jupiter's moon Europa is believed to host a global ocean up to a hundred miles (160 kilometers) deep, with no land to speak of at the surface. (See "Jupiter Moon Has Violent, Hidden Oceans, Study Suggests.")
And the extraterrestrial ocean is currently being fed more than a hundred times more oxygen than previous models had suggested, according to provocative new research.
That amount of oxygen would be enough to support more than just microscopic life-forms: At least three million tons of fishlike creatures could theoretically live and breathe on Europa, said study author Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona in Tucson.
(Related: "Did Rising Oxygen Levels Fuel Mammal Evolution?")
"There's nothing saying there is life there now," said Greenberg, who presented his work last month at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences. "But we do know there are the physical conditions to support it."
In fact, based on what we know about the Jovian moon, parts of Europa's sea floor should greatly resemble the environments around Earth's deep-ocean hydrothermal vents, said deep-sea molecular ecologist Timothy Shank.
"I'd be shocked if no life existed on Europa," said Shank, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who was not involved in the new study.
Despite the promising new estimates, it's too early to do more than speculate about how Europan life might have evolved. A closer look—perhaps by a NASA orbiter now in development—will be needed to tell exactly how chemicals are distributed on Europa and how the moon's geologic history might have contributed to life's chances.
Europa's Shiny New Coat
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered Europa in 1610. But it wasn't until Galileo, the NASA spacecraft, reached the Jupiter system in 1995 that scientists were able to study the moon in detail.
Continued on Next Page >>
Next video is beautifully sound-tracked and gives a poetic flavour
to the facts about this lovely little moon. . . .
Some more basic facts. . . .
"Europa, or Jupiter II, is the sixth closest moon of the planet Jupiter, and the smallest of its four Galilean satellites, but still one of the largest bodies in the Solar system. Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei and possibly independently by Simon Marius around the same time. Progressively more in-depth observation of Europa has occurred over the centuries by Earth-bound telescopes, and by space probe flybys starting in the 1970s."
"Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and probably has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This surface is striated by cracks and streaks, while craters are relatively infrequent. The apparent youth and smoothness of the surface have led to the hypothesis that a water ocean exists beneath it, which could conceivably serve as an abode for extraterrestrial life. This hypothesis proposes that heat energy from tidal flexing causes the ocean to remain liquid and drives geological activity similar to plate tectonics" - Wikipedia
Now, 3 part video sequence: 'The Hidden Ocean of Europa' lecture, part of the von Karman Lecture Series. Date- Nov 07. Source - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures/nov07.cfm
Here's an 'artist's impression' (although video-1 is probably nearer
the truth of the matter, vis-à-vis lifeforms). . . .
(full series of Stephen Hawking's Universe begins here)
And, penultimately, a word about the goddess. . . .
Europa provided the substance of a brief Hellenistic epic written in the mid-2nd century BC by Moschos, a bucolic poet and friend of the Alexandrian grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace, born at Syracuse.In Metamorphoses, the poet Ovid wrote the following depiction of Jupiter's seduction:
And gradually she lost her fear, and he
Offered his breast for her virgin caresses,
His horns for her to wind with chains of flowers
Until the princess dared to mount his back
Her pet bull's back, unwitting whom she rode.
Then — slowly, slowly down the broad, dry beach —
First in the shallow waves the great god set
His spurious hooves, then sauntered further out
'til in the open sea he bore his prize
Fear filled her heart as, gazing back, she saw
The fast receding sands. Her right hand grasped
A horn, the other lent upon his back
Her fluttering tunic floated in the breeze.
His picturesque details belong to anecdote and fable: in all the depictions, whether she straddles the bull, as in archaic vase-paintings or the ruined metope fragment from Sikyon, or sits gracefully side-saddle as in a mosaic from North Africa, there is no trace of fear. Often Europa steadies herself by touching one of the bull's horns, acquiescing.
Finally, a February haiku, to bring us all back to Earth. . . .
Wolf Moon
of its former self
just a shadow
NOTE: The Moon of Winds (my favourite of several optional titles) is next in the Celtic lunar cycle and today is the new moon of that. She's with her consort (in conjunction) the Sun. After 3 days the goddess returns, as a slender sliver of arced light, impregnated with the next lunar cycle.Thus growing to fullness and then birthing back to the start of her perennial cycle through eternity.
MISC: Daily Mail
YOU HAVE JUST ENJOYED ANOTHER *SPECIAL FEATURE* BROUGHT TO YOU BY GLOBAL HAIKU NEWS
jp
22-02-12
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