伽利略的欧罗巴
(原标题: Galileo's Europa)
2024-03-29
浏览次数: 16
上世纪90年代末，伽利略号宇宙飞船环绕木星系统，记录下了木卫二令人惊叹的景象，并发现了证据，表明木卫二冰冷的表面可能隐藏着一个深深的全球海洋。伽利略的木卫二图像数据在这里被重新制作，经过改进的校准，产生了接近人眼可能看到的彩色图像。木卫二长长的弯曲裂缝暗示着地下存在液态水。这颗大卫星在环绕木星的椭圆轨道上经历的潮汐弯曲为保持海洋液态提供了能量。但更诱人的可能性是，即使在没有阳光的情况下，这一过程也可能提供支持生命的能量，使木卫二成为寻找地球以外生命的最佳地点之一。目前在木星轨道上的朱诺号宇宙飞船也多次飞越木卫二的水世界，传回了图像和探索木卫二宜居性的数据。今年10月，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）将发射“木卫二快船”（Europa Clipper），开始探索之旅。探测器将进行近50次近地飞行，接近木卫二冰冷表面25公里以内的距离。
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Looping through the Jovian system in the late 1990s, the Galileo spacecraft recorded stunning views of Europa and uncovered evidence that the moon's icy surface likely hides a deep, global ocean. Galileo's Europa image data has been remastered here, with improved calibrations to produce a color image approximating what the human eye might see. Europa's long curving fractures hint at the subsurface liquid water. The tidal flexing the large moon experiences in its elliptical orbit around Jupiter supplies the energy to keep the ocean liquid. But more tantalizing is the possibility that even in the absence of sunlight that process could also supply the energy to support life, making Europa one of the best places to look for life beyond Earth. The Juno spacecraft currently in Jovian orbit has also made repeated flybys of the water world, returning images along with data exploring Europa's habitability. This October will see the launch of the NASA's Europa Clipper on a voyage of exploration. The spacecraft will make nearly 50 flybys, approaching to within 25 kilometers of Europa's icy surface.