The Webb's remarkable sensitivity allowed it to map the distribution of CO2 on Europa's surface in great detail.
The scientists particularly examined the data of one of the prominent young geological features on Europa, Tara Regio, also called “chaos terrain”.
In fact, Europa's surface is regarded to be one of the smoothest in the solar system. It features a young ice surface with minimal impact craters, hinting that geological activity is ongoing. “Previous observations from the Hubble Space Telescope show evidence for ocean-derived salt in Tara Regio. Now we’re seeing that carbon dioxide is heavily concentrated there as well. We think this implies that the carbon probably has its ultimate origin in the internal ocean,” said Samantha Trumbo of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
“These observations only took a few minutes of the observatory’s time. Even with this short period of time, we were able to do really big science. This work gives a first hint of all the amazing solar system science we’ll be able to do with Webb,” said Heidi Hammel of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy., as we have not yet encountered life elsewhere in the universe.
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