{"id":596925,"date":"2026-05-21T22:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/596925\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T22:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:13:09","slug":"so-those-water-vapors-on-europa-might-not-actually-be-a-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/596925\/","title":{"rendered":"So Those Water Vapors on Europa Might Not Actually Be a Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2014, a monumental Science<\/a> paper showed that Hubble data pointed to intermittent plumes of water vapor on Europa, one of Jupiter\u2019s many moons. Twelve years later, the same researchers revisited data from the same observatory. Now, they\u2019re not so sure.<\/p>\n

Technically speaking, Europa\u2019s surface could indeed release these fumes of water vapor, as suggested in 2014 and later by a different group in 2016<\/a>. But the latest analysis, recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics<\/a>, takes down the certainty of the 2014 results by several notches; the plumes could exist, but the evidence presented before may well have been statistical noise misinterpreted as something significant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discrepancy with earlier results arises primarily from differences in the assumed position of Europa\u2019s disk on the detector,\u201d the researchers wrote in the paper. \u201cWe find evidence to support a persistent hydrogen exosphere at Europa, but no evidence of localized water vapor.\u201d<\/p>\n

99.9% confidence <\/p>\n

The team was already \u201cpushing the limits of the Hubble telescope\u2019s capabilities\u201d between 2012 and 2014, according to a statement<\/a> from the Southwest Research Institute. At the time, the team studied Lyman-\u03b1 and OI emissions detected by Hubble, which were signatures of hydrogen and oxygen, respectively.<\/p>\n

\"EuropaImages from the 2014 paper, showing signals of hydrogen and oxygen at Europa\u2019s south pole. \u00a9 Roth et al., 2014 <\/p>\n

In late 2012, the researchers spotted \u201cblobs\u201d of hydrogen and oxygen near Europa\u2019s south pole that appeared to be \u201cbest explained by two plumes of water vapor roughly 200 kilometers [124 miles] high,\u201d Lorenz Roth, a planetary scientist at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and the first author of both the 2014 and 2026 papers, told Nature News<\/a> in 2013.<\/p>\n

The 2014 paper decreed a 99.9% confidence in the plumes\u2019 existence, Roth said in the latest statement. But the reanalysis reduces that to \u201cless than 90% [\u2026] That\u2019s simply not enough evidence to support the certainty of claims we made at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way Hubble works left some uncertainty in terms of placement relative to the center of the image,\u201d added Kurt Retherford, the study\u2019s co-author and a researcher with the Southwest Research Institute. \u201cIf Europa\u2019s placement was off even just by a pixel or two, it could affect how the data gets interpreted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hubble\u2019s hobble <\/p>\n

For the newest analysis, the team\u2014which shares many members from the 2014 study\u2014reviewed Hubble data on Europa from 1999 and between 2012 and 2020. The goal was to better understand the hydrogen content in Europa\u2019s exosphere, in addition to revisiting the water plumes hypothesis. This time, the team took steps to address past issues.\u00a0For instance, its observations of Europa were taken in sunlight and when the moon wasn\u2019t transiting Jupiter.<\/p>\n

The observations and reanalyses \u201cmade us reconsider the strength of the previous paper\u2019s conclusion regarding water vapor plumes,\u201d Retherford said. At the same time, the latest investigation allowed the team to get a very close look into the hydrogen in Europa\u2019s atmosphere, which scientists still believe \u201c[originates] from its water ice surface,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

To be continued, probably <\/p>\n

Plume or no, Europa is still a fascinating target for astronomers. A 2019 study by NASA detected<\/a> water vapor above Europa\u2019s surface. Icy ocean moons like Europa and Saturn\u2019s Enceladus (which scientists have confirmed<\/a> spouts vapor plumes) overall have unique surface compositions that researchers expect to provide key insights into astrobiology and chemistry.<\/p>\n

\"CassiniAn image of the icy water jets spewing out of Enceladus, captured by NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SSI <\/p>\n

But I\u2019d argue that the findings aren\u2019t necessarily a loss for astronomy. If anything, it\u2019s reassuring that researchers are able and willing to reevaluate previous results, no matter how fantastic or reasonable some conclusion looked at the time. With Europa Clipper<\/a> and JUICE<\/a> on their way to Jupiter, we\u2019ll be able to refine our database even further.<\/p>\n

Related article: Missions to Ocean Moons Face a Strange Hazard Scientists Didn\u2019t Expect<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2014, a monumental Science paper showed that Hubble data pointed to intermittent plumes of water vapor on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[22680,3725,90,1685,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-596925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-europa","tag-planetary-science","tag-science","tag-solar-system","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}