Europa
Have you ever wondered about Jupiter’s moon Europa? Well you don’t have to know because I will tell you a little bit about Europa. Europa is one of Jupiter’s moons. It is the smallest out of the Galilean moons. “Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo and Marius.” (www.nineplanets.org)
Europa was named after a “Phoenician princess abducted to Crete by Zeus, who had assumed the form of a white bull, and by him the mother of Minos.”(www.nineplanets.org) the atmosphere is thin. Also Europa has a neutral atmosphere as well as an ionosphere. Since there is little gravity a small moon can not hold onto an atmosphere for very long.
Europa has a metallic core. The core is surrounded by a rock shell. Then the rock shell is surrounded by a shell of water (either in liquid form or in ice form). “The surface of Europa is cold, smoothed, ice covered world.”(www.nineplanets.org). “Europa orbits Jupiter in just over three and a half days” (www.nineplanets.org). Europa spins faster than it orbits Jupiter.
People would weigh less on Europa than Earth. You would weigh less on Europa because there is a less gravitational pull on you. Life is possible on Europa because it has almost the same elements as Earth. “It has been suggested that there might be life under the ice ocean” (www.nineplanets.org). If the ice would melt the whole moon would be under water.
I hope you learned a little bit about Europa and how it is possible to have life on it. I told you about when and who discovered it. Also I told you about the interior and the surface of Europa. Also you should now know about how it orbits Jupiter.