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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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Did Europa’s Giant Water Geysers Never Exist? New Study Shocks Scientists

For years, Europa, one of Jupiter’s most fascinating moons, has captured the attention of scientists and space enthusiasts around the world. Beneath its frozen outer shell lies what many researchers believe is a vast underground ocean of salty water. This hidden ocean has made Europa one of the most promising places in the Solar System to search for conditions that might support life.

In 2013, excitement around Europa grew even stronger when researchers announced a remarkable discovery: giant plumes of water vapor, similar to geysers, appearing near the moon’s south pole. The finding suggested that water from Europa’s hidden ocean might be escaping through cracks in the icy surface and shooting hundreds of kilometers into space.

If true, this would have been a major breakthrough. Scientists could potentially study Europa's underground ocean without drilling through kilometers of ice.

However, a new study is now challenging that exciting idea.

Revisiting an Earlier Discovery

Scientific discoveries often evolve as researchers gather new evidence and improve their methods. Sometimes findings become stronger with time. Other times, new analysis forces scientists to rethink earlier conclusions.

This appears to be happening with Europa's suspected geysers.

The original discovery was made using observations from the famous Hubble Space Telescope. Researchers led by astrophysicist Lorenz Roth observed signals of hydrogen and oxygen extending above Europa's southern region. These signals appeared to match what scientists would expect from water vapor plumes rising into space.

The team reported that these plumes might reach heights of nearly 200 kilometers above Europa’s surface.

At the time, the evidence appeared highly convincing.

But science does not stop with one result.

Looking Again at Old Data

In the new study, researchers—including Lorenz Roth himself—returned to the original observations and examined a much larger collection of data gathered by Hubble between 1999 and 2020.

Scientists focused on ultraviolet observations collected using Hubble’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph instrument. They searched for specific signals called Lyman-alpha emissions, which are associated with hydrogen atoms.

Hydrogen signals are important because water molecules contain hydrogen, and escaping water vapor could leave detectable traces.

The researchers analyzed 23 different image sets and found something interesting.

Europa does appear to possess a surrounding cloud of hydrogen gas known as a hydrogen exosphere. In fact, this exosphere appears to be four to five times denser than earlier estimates suggested.

However, they found no clear evidence for localized bursts of water vapor that would indicate giant geysers.

The signals once interpreted as plume activity may have had another explanation.

Small Errors, Big Consequences

The new study identified two major factors that may explain the earlier result.

The first involved image positioning.

Although it may sound minor, Europa’s image on the detector was slightly misaligned by only a few pixels—around two pixels horizontally and one pixel vertically.

That tiny shift was enough to create misleading bright spots in the data.

In astronomy, even very small measurement differences can significantly change results.

The second factor involved Europa's global hydrogen exosphere.

Back in 2013, scientists did not fully include this surrounding hydrogen layer in their calculations. Since the exosphere creates a weak signal around the moon, excluding it made some areas appear brighter than they actually were.

Once researchers included this effect, the supposed plume signal largely disappeared.

Researchers also performed tests using computer-generated data and found that even tiny positioning mistakes could create false positive signals strong enough to appear scientifically convincing.

Confidence in the Discovery Falls

According to the researchers, their original confidence level in plume detection was approximately 99.9 percent.

After reanalyzing the data, that confidence dropped to below 90 percent.

While 90 percent may sound high, scientific standards for major discoveries are extremely strict. Such confidence is no longer considered sufficient to confidently claim the existence of active water plumes.

This does not mean the original scientists made mistakes in a careless way. Instead, it demonstrates how science works: conclusions are constantly tested and reexamined as new information becomes available.

Does This Mean Europa Has No Geysers?

Not necessarily.

Planetary scientist Giuseppe Piccioni explains that the new findings do not prove that geysers are absent.

Instead, they show that current observations do not provide solid proof that they exist.

This distinction is important.

Scientists have seen plume activity on other icy worlds in the Solar System. For example, Saturn’s moon Enceladus famously ejects water-rich material from its south polar region.

Europa could potentially behave in a similar way, but researchers need stronger evidence before reaching that conclusion.

Why Scientists Still Care About Europa

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the plumes, Europa remains one of the most exciting objects in planetary science.

Evidence strongly suggests that a massive salty ocean exists beneath its icy shell. Surface cracks and fractures may connect the ocean to the surface, raising fascinating questions about chemistry and possible habitability.

If plumes do exist, they would provide a natural window into Europa's hidden ocean.

Instead of drilling through thick ice, spacecraft could simply fly through these water jets and directly analyze their contents.

That possibility is one reason why current and upcoming space missions are so important.

The Europa Clipper and the JUICE missions are expected to study Europa in far greater detail than ever before.

These spacecraft may finally answer one of the Solar System’s most intriguing questions:

Are giant water geysers really erupting from Europa—or have scientists been chasing a cosmic illusion?

For now, Europa’s mysterious plumes remain one of space science’s most fascinating unanswered questions.

Learn more:

  • Read on Astronomy & Astrophysics the article “ Europa's Lyman-α emissions from HST/STIS observations ” by L. Roth, KD Retherford, SR Carberry Mogan, C. Grava, J. Saur, DF Strobel, M. Ivchenko, T. Becker, S. Joshi, S. Bergman, A. Blöcker, MA McGrath, F. Nimmo, L. Paganini, W. Pryor and JR Spencer

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