- Letter
- Published:
Detection of an oxygen atmosphere on Jupiter's moon Europa
Naturevolume 373, pages677–679 (1995)Cite this article
3159Accesses
372Citations
9Altmetric
Abstract
EUROPA, the second large satellite out from Jupiter, is roughly the size of Earth's Moon, but unlike the Moon, it has water ice on its surface1. There have been suggestions that an oxygen atmosphere should accumulate around such a body, through reactions which break up the water molecules and form molecular hydrogen and oxygen2,3. The lighter H2 molecules would escape from Europa relatively easily, leaving behind an atmosphere rich in oxygen. Here we report the detection of atomic oxygen emission from Europa, which we interpret as being produced by the simultaneous dissociation and excitation of atmospheric O2 by electrons from Jupiter's magnetosphere. Europa's molecular oxygen atmosphere is very tenuous, with a surface pressure about 10−11 that of the Earth's atmosphere at sea level.
This is a preview of subscription content,access via your institution
Access options
Subscription info for Japanese customers
We have a dedicated website for our Japanese customers. Please go tonatureasia.com to subscribe to this journal.
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
￥ 4,980
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Malin, M. C. & Pieri, D. C. inSatellites (eds Burns, J. A. & Matthews, M. S.) 689–717 (Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, 1986).
Yung, Y. L. & McElroy, M. B.Icarus20, 97–103 (1977).
Kumar, S. & Hunten, D. M. inSatellites of Jupiter (ed. Morrison, D.) 782–806 (Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, 1982).
Vanhoosier, M. E., Bartoe, J. D. F., Brueckner, G. E. & Prinz, D. K.Astro. Lett. Commun.27, 163–168 (1988).
Hapke, B., Wells, E. & Wagner, J.Icarus47, 361–367 (1981).
Nelson, R. M.et al.Icarus72, 358–380 (1987).
Lane, A. L., Nelson, R. M. & Matson, D. L.Nature292, 38–39 (1981).
Clark, R. N.Icarus44, 388–409 (1980).
Meier, R. R.Space Sci. Rev.58, 1–185 (1991).
Sittler, E. C. Jr. & Strobel, D. F.J. geophys. Res.92, 5741–5762 (1987).
Bagenal, F.J. geophys. Res.99, 11043–11062 (1994).
Zipf, E. C.J. Phys. B19, 2199–2209 (1986).
Itikawa, Y.et al.J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data18, 23–42 (1989).
Laher, R. R. & Gilmore, F. R.J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data19, 277–305 (1990).
Shemansky, D. E.J. geophys. Res.93, 1773–1784 (1988).
Lee, J.-S. & Meier, R. R.Astrophys. J.240, 185–195 (1980).
Gladstone, G. R.J. geophys. Res.97, 19519–19525 (1992).
Meier, R. R. & Lee, J.-S.Planet. Space. Sci.30, 439–450 (1982).
Johnson, R. E.et al.Geophys. Res. Lett.10, 892–895 (1983).
Cheng, A. F., Haff, P. K., Johnson, R. E. & Lanzerotti, L. J. inSatellites (eds Burns, J. A. & Matthews, M. S.) 403–436 (Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, 1986).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Center for Astrophysical Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, 34th and Charles Streets, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, USA
D. T. Hall, D. F. Strobel & P. D. Feldman
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, USA
M. A. McGrath & H. A. Weaver
- D. T. Hall
Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar
- D. F. Strobel
Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar
- P. D. Feldman
Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar
- M. A. McGrath
Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar
- H. A. Weaver
Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hall, D., Strobel, D., Feldman, P.et al. Detection of an oxygen atmosphere on Jupiter's moon Europa.Nature373, 677–679 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/373677a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue date:
Share this article
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
This article is cited by
Oxygen production from dissociation of Europa’s water-ice surface
- J. R. Szalay
- F. Allegrini
- R. J. Wilson
Nature Astronomy (2024)
The Europa Clipper Magnetometer
- Margaret G. Kivelson
- Xianzhe Jia
- Lee Wigglesworth
Space Science Reviews (2023)
A comprehensive investigation of the Galilean moon, Io, by tracing mass and energy flows
- N. Thomas
Experimental Astronomy (2022)
Three body photodissociation of the water molecule and its implications for prebiotic oxygen production
- Yao Chang
- Yong Yu
- Xueming Yang
Nature Communications (2021)
A sublimated water atmosphere on Ganymede detected from Hubble Space Telescope observations
- Lorenz Roth
- Nickolay Ivchenko
- Kurt D. Retherford
Nature Astronomy (2021)
