Sub-Earth Planet Found Orbiting Barnard's Star, Just 6 Light-Years Away

[Music] imagine a star that has been silently moving across our sky for over a century invisible to the naked eye yet traveling faster than any other star we can observe Barnard star a small dim Red Dwarf is just a short distance away for decades astronomers have wondered if it Harbors secrets and now thanks to a recent Discovery they have confirmed that it does orbiting this nearby star there is a planet a rocky world how could this world remain hidden from our eyes for over a century what does this mean for our search for life and

how might it affect the future of exoplanet research the implications could be far reaching join us as we begin our discussion [Music] Barnard star is located about six light years away from Earth making it one of our closest Neighbors in the Galaxy second only to the alpha centuri system unlike Alpha centuri which is a complex multi-star system Barnard star stands alone it belongs to the category of red dwarfs one of the most common types of stars in our galaxy despite such abundance red dwarfs are notoriously difficult to observe directly due to their relatively low brightness

for example Barnard star has only 16% of the Sun's mass and less than 0.4% of its Luminosity making it invisible to the naked eye naturally the physical character istics of Barnard star and distinguish it from its larger and hotter counterparts with a surface temperature of about 5,400 de F compared to 9,900 De F observed on the surface of the Sun Barnard star mostly emits infrared radiation its lower energy output means that any potential planets orbiting it would need to be much closer to the star to receive the same amount of energy as Earth does from

the Sun one of the most exciting features of Barnard star is the unusual movement trajectory across the sky with a proper motion of more than 10 Ark seconds per year it holds the title of the fastest moving star relative to the solar system this movement is a result of its proximity and speed as it travels through the Galaxy Barnard star moves at about 56 m/ second relative to our sun for astronomers this fast travel has been a key reason why the star has been a subject of close observation for over a century its trajectory is

mapped so well that astronomers can accurately predict its future movements the star will continue approaching the solar system coming as close as 3.75 light years in about 10,000 years the story of Barnard star began in 1916 when American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard first noticed its peculiar movement this astronomer measured the celestial body shift against the backdrop of distant stars and realized that the object was moving faster than any other observed at the time this discovery was groundbreaking as it pointed to the presence of relatively nearby Stars moving at significant speed s for decades Barnard star

has remained a prime target for observation with its high proper motion allowing astronomers to study it in Greater detail than many other [Music] stars the first attempt to find planets around Barnard star began in the 1960s driven by its status as one of the closest stars to Earth early searches focused on detecting large gas giant planets like Jupiter or Saturn however the available Methods at the time particularly astrometry were far from perfect astrometry involves measuring tiny changes in a star's position caused by the gravitational pool of orbiting planets the challenge was to observe the Stars

wobble triggered by the gravitational pool of an invisible Planet but since the technology was still in its early stages these measurements were prone to significant errors despite these limitations in the 1960s and70s astronomers such as Peter Vamp claimed to have detected planets around Barnard star using astrometric methods van Camp's team believed they had discovered a gas giant with a mass several times greater than Jupiters this idea generated excitement as it would have provided insight into Planet formation around red dwarfs which were believed to be less likely to host large planets however subsequent research cast doubt

on these findings as observational techniques improved it became clear that the initial claims were based on overly inaccurate data the wobble detected in the Stars movement was not caused by a planet but most likely by instrument error or other sources of Noise by the 1980s the idea of a massive Planet orbiting Barnard star was largely debunked and astronomers had to reconsider the methods over the next few decades astronomers developed more sophisticated tools such as the radial velocity method which allowed them to indirectly detect planets by observing shifts in the Stars light spectrum this method using

the movement of the star closer or further from Earth proved much more reliable by the 1990s these new methods replaced astrometry as the primary tool for searching for planets and star systems however the absence of planets around Barnard star continued to puzzle scientific Minds especially since other red dwarfs like Proxima centuri had been found to host planets in including potentially habitable ones Barnard star on the other hand seemed to defy expectations a breakthrough occurred in the late 2010s when advancements in technology particularly developing more sensitive spectrographs allowed astronomers to take a fresh look at the

star and in 2018 researchers once again announced they had detected a super Earth orbiting bar Barnard star reigniting interest in this system the discovery was made using a combination of radial velocity data and other Advanced Techniques confirming that while there were no gas giants over there small rocky planets could indeed be present a planet believed to be slightly larger and with a mass greater than Earth was detected using the radial velocity method which measures shifts in the Stars light caused by the gravitational pull of orbiting planets this method tracks the wobble of the Star by

observing subtle changes in its light spectrum particularly the red shift and blue shift of the Star as it moves toward and away from Earth initial data suggested the presence of a planet orbiting at a distance of about four astronomical units from the star however by 2021 further analysis revealed that the detected signal did not originate from a planet instead it was caused by the star itself internal variability and its activity led to color changes that mimic the presence of a planet essentially what was interpreted as a planetary signal was in fact the result of the

behavior of a variable star by 2022 additional research confirmed that the supposed super Earth did not exist marking yet another false start in the search for planets around Barnard star however it was October 2024 that marked a turning point in the research of nearby star systems after Decades of searching and refining techniques astronomers finally confirm the existence of a planet orbiting Bernard Star designated as Bernard B unlike speculative attempts of the past the Discover is based on highly precise and modern observational instruments provideing credible insights into the planet's existence and characteristics the key to this

breakthrough was measurements taken using some of the most precise Spectrum graphs available today the European Southern observatory's espresso instrument and the harps spectrograph these tools enabled scientists to detect the faint wobbles in the Stars motion that would have gone unnoticed using older methods what makes this discovery particularly significant is the extraordinary accuracy of these instruments Bernard B is relatively small about 30 7% of the Earth's mass but its presence was confirmed by the subtle impact it has on its host star unlike the previous attempts which were confounded by technological limitations or Stellar activity this discovery

is backed by a vast amount of data carefully analyzed and verified by independent teams worldwide Bernard B has an incredibly short orbital period just 3 days this means the planet is much closer to its star than Mercury is to the sun with an orbit at a distance of only 0.04 astronomical units such proximity leads to extreme conditions on the planet's surface the gravitational pull of the star creates tidal forces that could cause significant internal friction and Rising temperatures in the planet's core combined with radiation from the Star this results in harsh conditions on Barnard B

given its close orbit position and the fact that Bernard Star is a red dwarf the planet is bombarded by intense Stellar radiation it receives a large dose of energy which according to Scientific estimates raises the surface temperature to around 260° f this searing heat makes the planet unsuitable for Life as We Know It water if it ever existed there wouldn't be able to remain in liquid form and the atmospheric conditions would likely be hostile despite the harsh surface temperatures the discovery of Bernard B opens new doors for studying the nature of planets around red dwarfs

it's small size and extreme orbit suggest that it may belong to a broader category of exoplanets that are more common than previously thought the fact that Bernard B is a rocky planet rather than a gas giant supports the theory that small rocky worlds may be widespread around red dwarfs although it's ruled out for Bernard B the question of habitability remains intriguing in the context of red dwarfs while butar B is too close to its star to support liquid water future studies May focus on finding planets located farther out within the system that could orbit with

the so-called habitable zone this range where temperatures are optimal for liquid water is more likely to have planets with more favorable conditions for life at the same time the discovery of Bernard B suggests that smaller more Distant Worlds might still exist in the system awaiting Discovery the potential for life on similar planets is further diminished by frequent Stellar flares although Bernard Star is less volatile than other red dwarfs it still experiences burst of ultraviolet radiation that could gradually strip a planet's atmosphere this phenomenon has already been observed in systems like Proxima centuri where flares have

made life on nearby planets less likely despite their promising conditions for Barnard B this means that even if it once had an atmosphere or surface water it likely lost these features a long time ago due to Stellar activity red dwarfs also known as mtype stars are among the most common type of stars in the Milky Way adding up to about 70% of All Stars in the Galaxy their widespread presence makes them a key Focus for exoplanet searches particularly because they tend to be relatively stable and longlived theoretically providing an extended window for Planet formation and

evolution however while red dwarfs offer exciting possibilities the study of these stars in search for potential exoplanets has revealed exciting opportunities and significant challenges the stability and longevity of red dwarfs are the primary reason why astronomers are so focused on them in exoplanet research they burn their fuel much more slowly compared to larger stars like the sun meaning their lifetime can span tens of billions of years this extended lifespan provides more time for the planets to form and potentially for life to evolve if the conditions are right in recent years red dwarfs have garnered attention

thanks to discoveries like the Trappist one system which hosts seven earthlike planets three of which lie in the habitable zone the discovery of systems like this one has raised hopes that these Stars could host planets with conditions similar to Earth possibly even with liquid water however despite their promise red dwarfs are also known for their unpredictability and potential hostility to life the main issue is their tendency to produce powerful flares these Stellar flares which can release burst of ultraviolet and x-ray radiation are far more frequent and intense than those from larger stars like the sun

for planets orbiting close to these Stars which is necessary for them to be within the habitable zone the consequences of such flares can be devastating they can strip away a planet's atmosphere expose the surface to harmful radiation and prevent the development of a stable environment capable of sustaining life another major challenge is tidal locking many planets orbiting red dwarfs are so close to their Stars they become tidy locked meaning one side of the planet is always facing the star while the other remains in constant Darkness this creates an extreme temperature difference between the two hemispheres

further complicating conditions on the surface the side facing the star may become scorching hot while the dark side plunges into the freezing cold with only a narrow band between them potentially offering tolerable conditions and yet in spite of these difficulties the sheer number of red dwarfs in the galaxy and how frequently earthlike planets are detected in their orbits keep them at the Forefront of exoplanet research if even a small percentage of planets can retain their atmospheres and avoid the worst effects of Stellar flares the potential number number of habitable worlds could be [Music] infinite nevertheless

the discovery of Bernard B Marks a significant Leap Forward in the study of planetary systems it demonstrates that even in systems where previous searches yielded no results new discoveries are possible with the right tools as the second closest star system to our solar system Bernard Star is is ideal for further detailed observation further study of Bernard Star could serve as a foundation for broader exoplanet research potentially revealing how common rocky planets are around red dwarfs and aiding in the search for planets with habitable zones of other stars the next phase of research will likely focus

on determining the precise composition of Bernard B his technology Advan es instruments like the James web Space Telescope and Next Generation groundbased observatories will enable astronomers to examine the planet's atmosphere if it has one and gather more data regarding the composition of its surface these missions could reveal whether the planet has any unusual geological features or if it had experienced different environmental conditions in the past that shaped its evolution the discovery is part of a broader effort to map the planetary landscape of our Cosmic neighborhood as observational techniques improve astronomers hope to find not just

one but potentially multiple planets orbiting Bernard Star while these worlds may not be hospitable they could provide crucial insights into how planets form and evolve in Red Dwarf systems which remain some of the most abundant and least understood stars in the galaxy are we alone in the universe those involved in the search for extraterrestrial life have been increasingly sharing the view that mankind is not ready for contact with the alien civilization it becomes obvious the moment we put the dreams and Imagination aside and delve into the scientific approach not only can the search for intelligent

civilizations be fruitless but can also lead to opening the door that we are not ready to walk through what Mysteries actually hide behind the cosmic silence and why do we put so much effort into coming in contact with extraterrestrial beings knowing that we may never achieve this goal spending years exploring the possibilities of coming into contact with with extraterrestrial beings scientists had come to surprising conclusions let's imagine that alien civilization is at the same level of technological advancement as us and their spacecrafts fly at the same speeds as ours turns out intelligent life with this

advancement level needs less than a billion years to spread across a galaxy of the same size as ours just look at how fast the Galaxy would actually have been inhabited by any civilization of this caliber but if that were the case why are we not seeing this Lively Galaxy around us to answer this question we'll need to take a look at the kardashev scale the majority of modern scientists Ed this scale to measure the potential ability of living organisms to colonize the surrounding space and subsequently the possibility of contact with other life forms this scale

gives its own answer as to why we are not seeing this image of populated space all around us kardashev proposed to measure a civilization's level of technological advancement based on how efficiently it uses their energy resources according to this scale a type one civilization can learn to utilize all of the energy that they're able to harvest on their home planet radiating from its parent star this type of civilization is most likely ready for interplanetary travel and at some point down the line will be able to colonize its entire system for context we only use 73%

of the planet's energy potential whereas the amount of energy we learn to harness from the Sun is less than .1% turns out we're still on level zero according to this scale civilizations that have reached the status of type two are capable of captur ing the energy not only on their home planet but also any energy they could harness within their star system or at the very least they're close to being able to do that in their search for this type of civilization scientists are on the lookout for a Dyson Sphere a hypothetical artificial structure that

would allow the civilization to harness all of the stars energy from within the system these civilizations would be capable of interstellar travel they will have actively colon their own Galaxy and possibly moved on to colonizing the surrounding areas which would allow them to keep increasing the amount of energy that they could use as well as using all of the energy of their star system type 3 civilizations are able to harness the energy from neighboring systems control the energy of their entire galaxy or even the entire universe these civilizations are able to not only control this

energy but Poss possibly change entire worlds there's a simple reason as to why communicating with the type one civilization is problematic upon calculating the capacity at which we can transmit and receive signals in space we come to find that the maximum visibility of the Earth's energy activity radio signals lasers electric activity is very limited we can only be seen or heard from a distance of four light years the noise we create could only be heard by our closest neighbors who have reached the same level of development type 2 civilization would be able to hear us

from much further away they would also be able to ensure they remain unnoticed either because of the great distance or because they wish to keep it that way after 60 years of transmitting various signals and scanning the skies trying to detect artificial signals we haven't been able to find anything and we remain unheard the Paradox of great silence was first raised by legendary physicist enrio fery speaking to his colleagues once he raised a seemingly simple question where are the aliens and why have they not been to visit us however when you consider our civilization's level

of development the answer is pretty obvious why would they the logistics required for Interstellar travel are only available to civilizations that have reached type two at least and in their eyes we're not worth it what person in their right mind would try to communicate with ants how would an ant be able to recognize that someone's trying to communicate with it after all in terms of our development and technological advancement compared to them we're akin to highly developed ants that have taken over an entire planet not to mention the ineffec Ive use of said planet's potential

other civilizations that like us haven't yet reached type one they stay confined to their own planet and star system it's simply unrealistic to expect any guest from a place like that it is possible that right at this moment they're working on the same problems as we are starvation fighting for resources and pursuing minor and major Wars for territories and so it appears that type one civilizations would simply have other things to worry about however is it possible that someone could have overcome those issues and decided to launch themselves into space the data presented by the

scientist suggest we may in fact have a surprisingly large number of neighbors as we lift our gaze to the cloudless sky we can imagine how many potential inhabited planets there are what what we see in the sky is only 1% of our own galaxy The Milky Way even if only 1% of these worlds are inhabited and populated with conscious life that would amount to around 100,000 intelligent civilizations that could exist in our galaxy alone and they all remain silent there are a vast number of solutions to the fermes Paradox because there are around a hundred

scientific theories alone that attempt to explain this silence let's break down the most interesting of those theories there are no signs of type 2 or type 3 civilizations because they don't exist the scientific analysis tells us there are thousands of civilizations in our galaxy alone hence they presume that there is a factor that stands in the way of their development this factor is called the Great filter this Theory suggests that after reaching a certain level of development life faces an obstacle that's impossible to overcome however scientists don't know what this great filter may be the

possibilities are only limited by our imagination from artificial intelligence which cleanses the overly developed organic life from the Galaxy to various forms of Apocalypse the most unfortunate thing about this theory is that if true true humanity is faced with three possible prospects in the future according to the first scenario we as Humanity are a unique life form that has managed to overcome the big hurdle of the great filter that would mean that reaching our level of progress is very challenging and the chances of it happening are very low in this case the cosmic silence would

be caused by the majority of civilizations failing to overcome the great filter hence we simply have nobody to come in contact with the second scenario suggests that we happen to be the first ones among our neighbors to advance to this level this would be due to the fact that the conditions necessary for the existence of conscious life had only been established relatively recently and we happen to be the pioneers of this progress in this case we simply found ourselves in the right place at the right time to have become one of the first Ultra intelligent

civilizations it also means we have plenty of time to advance to become a type two and type 3 civilization that's the reason why there's no hope for contact we are progressing faster than any other organic form of life since the Big Bang the third scenario presented by scientist is more pessimistic they reckon that if we were not the first ones to reach this level of advancement in this rare sequence of cosmic events then the great filter is still ahead of us they think that life evolves at regular intervals until it reaches a certain stage which

is where we stand now whatever or whoever it is it presents a challenge that prevents life from evolving to a type one civilization and it's unlikely that we would be an exception to this rule those favoring the third hypothesis believe that the cosmic silence is great news for us after all the presence of complex Life on Mars moon or somewhere else means that the great filter is bound to be ahead of us there's also an opposing Viewpoint according to it type 2 and type three civilizations do exist and we haven't come across them for a

reason this is based mainly upon the fact that we're very much limited in our search after all we are searching for the signals that are only 100 light years away from us which represents a mere 0.1% of our galaxy The Most Interesting theories resulting from this version sound like this galaxy has long been colonized and to the colonizers themselves we are located in a lowest deserted area the perfect example of a similar situation happened in Earth's history colonization of North America Native Americans residing in the remote parts of the continent only learned about the presence

of their neighbors superevan several decades after the latter arrived on the continent it's also possible the activity is present around our system we're simply too primitive to understand these signals or we are focusing our efforts elsewhere that would be like trying to communicate with people using the internet via Morse code it is equally possible that our minds differ so greatly compared to other life forms that our attempts to establish contact come across as senseless noise another interesting hypothesis is the cosmic Zoo Theory which states that we are actually surrounded by a densely populated Galaxy within

this world Earth is something akin to a Wildlife Reserve the kind you could watch but you're not allowed to go on a safari ride or make contact with such a primitive life form and still every attempt to explain this paradig inevitably comes to a stop we still know very little about space and we have not yet evolved to the level necessary for resolving these problems but that doesn't mean that our attempts to find intelligent life have stopped and humanity is Frozen in place waiting for outside contact there are currently at least two projects that have

spent several decades trying to establish contact and search for extraterrestrial life these are the projects setti and mey the work of these two projects is based on the Drake equation a mathematical formula that suggest it's possible to accurately calculate the number and more importantly the potential location of inhabited Worlds the next step is to use this information to reach out according to this equation our galaxy host between 8 and 2,900 systems of in intelligent life as science evolved and our knowledge about our galaxy grew the calculations became more precise realistically there should be 36 other

brother worlds coexisting with us in the Milky Way galaxy the seti project started in 1984 and at first it focused on scanning our immediate surroundings in search of artificial radio signals coming from our potential neighbors however no signals were found right now the major hope is that the European Space Telescope GAA will bring some results it's able to transmit information about the exact location of all stars in our galaxy and give an accurate assessment of every Star system's potential that's why the seti project was able to move on from a rough estimation of various star

systems to a detailed analysis of each one thanks to a technological advancement and now every signal sent out there is directed towards the systems with the highest likelihood of intelligent life will we get a response from any of them the answer to this is both yes and no some of the systems we have already researched are so far away that any response from them would take over 3,600 years to reach Earth and last but not least the mission of medy is also very important after all they help by trying to capture any messages from space

and send our greetings to distant Stars we know of at least eight attempted Communications two of which are the famous Gold Records on the Voyager probes and similar ones on the Pioneers the other six are messages contained in radio signals directed towards some stars for example to one of the nearest solar type Stars glea 581 so far there have been about 40 radio sessions in total we're unlikely to hear a response to them but it is possible that our descendants might to sum up the results of our small study we can say quite definitely that

the Silence of the universe is normal it's also possible that we have not yet sufficiently evolved to make contact with the intelligence around us or even that the cosmos itself is not yet ready for this which one of these scenarios is the most likely are we a unique species or has the entire space been colonized by super developed Civilizations for a long while we are close to uncovering the answers to these questions but are we ready for this [Music] contact in the vast expanse of our solar system among the swirling gas giants and rocky earthlike

planets an intriguing World lurks a world larger than the planet Mercury but orbiting not around the Sun but around the Colossal planet Jupiter this is ganime the largest satellite in our solar system ganime covered in a thick icy shell has attracted scientists for years its battered and scarred surface tells a story that's been billions of years in the making a story we're only beginning to unravel beneath its icy exterior ganam hides secrets that could forever change our view of life in the universe it's currently the only known Moon that has its own magnetic field and

deep beneath its surface there may be more water than all of the Earth's oceans combined today we take a trip to this distant Moon we'll study its recent images and delve into the Mysteries these images have begun to reveal our story began more than 4 centuries ago in 1610 when a man named Galileo Galilee pointed his primitive telescope at the night sky he discovered Four Points of Light orbiting the giant planet Jupiter that forever changed our view of the universe these were Galileo's satellites and the largest among them was ganam Galileo's observations of these Galilean

moons revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos by providing in the first evidence that not all celestial bodies revolve around the earth ganim meat is the Titan among the satellites its diameter is about 3,273 Mi it is the largest moon in our solar system surpassing even the planet Mercury in size but size isn't the only thing that sets ganam apart transported to present day our ability to study ganam is kept pace with technological advances modern telescopes both groundbased and space-based have given us a clearer picture of this distant moon but it was the Advent of space

probes that really ushered in a new era of exploration spacecrafts such as the Galileo Orbiter and the Juno probe have traveled to the Jupiter system to send back to Earth detailed images and data that have allowed us to study ganam like never before these missions have given us a close-up view view of ganam surface revealing its icy terrain and the Intriguing patterns etched on it ganam is a moon of contrast its surface is a patchwork of two different types of terrain darker areas filled with craters and grooves tell of the moon's turbulent past while lighter

areas hint at Dynamic and geologically active World an equally tantalizing aspect of ganam Lies Beneath its icy surface scientists believe there is a vast ocean of liquid water beneath the ice containing more water than all of the Earth's oceans combined Zeus known as Jupiter in Roman mythology took a beautiful mortal boy to become the cup bearer of the Gods this boy's name was ganam it seems appropriate that the moon carries such a large amount of water around Jupiter but perhaps the most intriguing feature of ganam is something we can't see it's the only moon in

our so Sol system that generates its own magnetic field a trait usually reserved for planets this magnetic field creates beautiful auroras in ganim's rarified atmosphere a sight truly worth seeing the question arises could this distant icy World Harbor the conditions necessary for life our understanding of ganam has been greatly enhanced by the daring Mission sent to the Jupiter system one of the most significant of these was the Galileo mission launched by NASA in 1989 Galileo arrived at Jupiter in 1995 embarking on a nearly 8-year mission to study the gas giant and its satellites the spacecraft

made several close flybys of ganam taking detailed pictures of its icy surface and measuring its magnetic field the data collected by Galileo revolutionized our understanding of gamine revealing its complex geological history and confirming its magnetic field this feature distinguishes it not only from other satellites but also from most planets ganam is the only satellite in our solar system that generates its own magnetic field the magnetic field is created by the movement of molten iron in the core of the celestial body a process similar to that which generates the Earth's magnetic field however the main mystery

is that judging by the structure of the satellite and its age the core of ganam long go should have cooled and solidified but still how does the moon create a magnetic field the answer May lie in a process called tidal heating as gamed orbits Jupiter the planet's gravitational pool causes the moon's interior to contract and stretch to understand tidal heating let's think about a simple everyday activity kneading dough when you need bread or pizza dough you're exerting force on it pushing and pulling and in different directions as you work with the dough you may notice

that it begins to heat up this is because the force you are applying creates friction within the dough and friction generates heat that's very similar to how tidal heating works in the case of ganam the kneading is done by Jupiter's gravitational pool as ganam rotates around Jupiter the planet gravity attracts different parts of the Moon with different forces causing it to bend and stretch this bending and stretching creates friction within ganam and as with dough the friction generates Heat this heat could be enough to melt part of ganim's interior creating a layer of liquid metal

that would generate the moon's magnetic field among other things ganim's magnetic field is unique in that unlike Earth's it's embedded in Jupiter's powerful magnetosphere creating a complex and dynamic electromagnetic environment this mag magnetic field is important for the potential habitability of ganam it creates a magnetosphere around ganam that could theoretically protect life on the Moon from harmful solar radiation in addition the interaction between ganim's magnetic field and Jupiter's magnetosphere produces auroras in ganim's thin atmosphere these auroras have provided scientists with valuable information about the internal structure of ganam for example confirming the presence of an

ocean beneath its surface more recently the Juno spacecraft has been studying Jupiter and its satellites launched in 2011 Juno's primary mission is to study Jupiter's composition its gravitational field magnetic field and polar magnetosphere in June 2021 NASA's Juno spacecraft made a close flyby of ganam coming within 645 miles of the Moon surface taking the most detailed images of the moon surface to date the spacecraft's Juno cam Imaging system had only 25 minutes to take images of ganam but in that short time it managed to take five stunning exposures interesting fact initially during development Juno was

not equipped with a camera it was project manager Scott Bolton who insisted we've got to put a camera on this thing and it was indeed a wise decision these images show ganim's complex and in ring surface with a mix of Darker areas and strong craters and lighter areas and grooves and patterns the Juno science team is now comparing these images with those from previous missions looking for any changes that may have occurred over the past two decades but taking these pictures wasn't easy Juno had to rush past ganam at 12 m per second and then

Glide over the tops of Jupiter's clouds at 36 m per second never nevertheless despite these challenges the spacecraft managed to take clear and detailed images of gamed giving us a unprecedented view of this fascinating Moon these images are not only visually stunning but they're also key to understanding ganim's geology and the potential for life for example the images show light and dark areas on ganim's Ice shell indicating differences in the Purity and composition of the ice this information can help scientists understand how ganim's ice shell formed and how it's changed over time so let's take

a closer look at the dynamic geologic history of this Moon the dark regions are considered the oldest parts of ganam surface some 4 billion years old they are heavily cratered indicating they have been relatively stable for a long period bearing the scars of countless impacts in contrast the lighter colored Groove regions are younger and indicate more recent geologic activity these regions are modeled with intricate patterns of ridges and ditches some of them more than a mile high and hundreds of miles long these furrowed landforms are thought to have formed as a result of tectonic activity

caused by the previously mentioned title heating from ganim's elliptical orbit around Jupiter when the moon bends and stretches under Jupiter's gravitational pool it releases heat that can cause the ice surface to crack and regenerate this process can create faults and cracks in the surface resulting in the ridges and grooves we see today it is a process similar to plate tectonics on Earth but in a much colder and alien environment thus by studying these geologic features we not only learn about gameit's past we also gain insight into geologic processes that may occur on other icy moons

and planets helping us to understand the diversity of worlds in our solar system and beyond as we delve deeper into the mysteries of ganam one question arises could this icy Moon Harbor life while we don't yet have definitive answers some features of ganam make this a Tanz assumption first it's believed that ganam has an underground ocean of liquid water more than 100 km deep this ocean is warmed by heat generated with tidal bins on Earth wherever we find water we find life so the presence of a vast ocean on ganam opens up the possibility of

Life there perhaps in an environment similar to Earth's deep sea hydrothermal vents these vents spewing mineral Rich water heated by the Earth's interior are teeming with life forms that thrive in extreme conditions could similar vents exist on ganam providing the conditions necessary for Life Second gan am's thin oxygen atmosphere although not suitable for human respiration due to the low density could potentially support some forms of microbial life on Earth some microbes are known to survive in extremely rarified atmospher such as those at high altitudes of mountains although conditions on ganam are harsh and very different

from those on Earth Life as we know it has proven to be incredibly adaptable and able to survive in a wide variety of environments thus the possibility of Life on ganam while somewhat speculative cannot be ruled out as future missions explore this fascinating satellite in more detail we may yet find answers to these questions who knows what Secrets ganam May reveal however it's very important to be aware of the challenges and limitations of exploring such a distant and alien world first the sheer distance ganam orbits Jupiter which is about 484 million miles from Earth even

traveling at the speed of light it takes more than 40 minutes for a signal to travel from Earth to gamed and back this makes realtime control of spacecraft impossible and means that missions to ganam must be able to operate autonomously for long periods in addition the harsh conditions of ganam itself make themselves felt the surface temperature of - 276 de F and it's exposed to intense radiation from Jupiter's magnetosphere any spacecraft that visits ganam must be designed to withstand these extreme conditions and finally there's the problem of interpreting the data we're getting images and other

data from ganam must be transmitted hundreds of millions of miles through space and then analyzed by scientists on Earth this process requires sophisticated technology and expertise and there's always some degree of inaccuracy involved it's not to say that current interpretations are wrong but rather our understanding of ganam is constantly evolving as new data is collected and analyzed although the scientific Community seems to be in general agreement on the main features of ganam there's also some uncertainties one major point of contention is the source and nature of the plumes observed on ganam Surface some scientists believe

these plumes are caused by water from the interior of the Moon being pushed through its icy crust similar to the plumes observed on Saturn's satellite Enceladus and possibly Jupiter's satellite Europa incidentally we've already debated whether there is life on Europa in another video similarly while the existence of subsurface ocean on ganam is supported by several lines of evidence the exact properties of this ocean such as depth composition ability to Harbor life all still the subject of ongoing research and debate despite these challenges our quest to explore ganam and other Distant Worlds continue each challenge we

overcome brings us one step closer to understanding our place in the universe as we traveled through the mysteries of ganam it became apparent that our exploration of this fascinating satellite is far from over NASA and other space agencies around the world have ambitious plans to explore the Jupiter system the European space agency's juice their Mission launched April 14th 2023 from the Guana Space Center on an Aran 5 launch vehicle and it will make detailed observations of ganam and other Galilean moons Europa and Kalisto the Jupiter icy moons Explorer will be equipped with a suite of

10 Advanced instruments capable of studying the surface and interior of ganam with unprecedented Precision it'll map the moon's icy envelope and underlying ocean study the composition of its surface and atmosphere and further explore its unique magnetic field Beyond juice there are proposals for even more ambitious missions these include Landers Rovers and even submarines to explore ganim's ocean while still in the conceptual stage these missions represent the Bold Innovative thinking that will be required to fully unlock the secrets of ganam as we look to the Future one thing is clear ganam remains remains a tempting place

for scientific exploration its unique geology magnetic field and potential for Life make it a solid Target in the ongoing quest to understand the workings of the solar system and our place in [Music] it is life possible anywhere other than our home planet and what if we tell you that there is a place within the solar system where we can find an ocean of water twice as large as any of the Earth's oceans this ocean is hidden under a layer of ice dozens of miles in thickness however 125 mile geysers push their way up from under

this ice shield and the atmosphere of this world consists of oxygen sounds familiar doesn't it that's why today we'll tell you about a place that's almost literally in our backyard right in the solar system we are head getting to Jupiter to discover the depths of its icy Moon europ Europa is one of Jupiter's seven satellites it was discovered in 1610 by the famous astronomer Galileo Galilee along with three other satellites that are now referred to as the Galileo satellites back then this discovery made a lot of noise but even to this day that location remains

one of the focal points of interest for the scientist of the world from astrophysicist to biochemist Jupiter and its satellites are now referred to by the scientist as the miniature solar system and there's a good reason for that each satellite has unique characteristics from volcanic activity on iO to methane Lakes on gameid there's plenty to study on each Moon these satellites are still the center of attention which is why in just a few weeks a new new Mission titled juice is going to head towards Jupiter its primary objective is to observe and study icy moons

of Jupiter we're already used to the fact that whenever we find water on our planet we also find life it is in search of water that the juice Mission will set off on his journey to the icy surface of Europa and its siblings but is water the only thing required for life to exist we can't accurately estimate the conditions for life to actually exist in the universe but there is one set of conditions that we believe leads to life flourishing in its many forms and sizes and that is the conditions on our planet Earth so

what conditions are these water is the number one ingredient among the list of ingredients required for Life as we know it to exist it's needed to dissolve and Supply nutrients to organisms while also allowing the waste products of these processes to be disposed of many factors indicate there is water under the ice on Europa and one of them comes from a similar situation on Earth it turns out the double ice ridges and cracks visible on Jupiter's satellite are similar to those in Greenland these regularities are the potential evidence of the existence of liquid water under

this ice honor Earth such ridges are caused precisely by the presence of water cushions within the ice and under these brakes which gave the scientists the idea that these cracks are similar to the ones on Earth as for the chemical elements necessary for the creation and maintenance of life it turns out they are present on Europa Satellite photographs taken by the Voyager probe makes it possible to study the structure of ice and confirm that the ice is covered with a considerable amount of salt deposits and heavy metals such as magnesium which incidentally is the reason

for the Hue similar to the color of blood we observe similar conditions on Earth in Greenland where salt comes to the surface of the ice as a result of volcanic activity on Europa however movements of I strongly resemble the tectonic activity indicating they were possibly caused by it the last ingredient we need is a a source of energy the sun which is an energy source for our planet can hardly be considered to have any real influence on europa's Ocean still the ice covering this Moon reflects a huge amount of sunlight and the distance to the

Sun is six times greater than the distance from Sun to Earth but the radiation exposure from Jupiter on each revolution around the planet is most likely the source of energy in question the influence of Jupiter's radiation on the ice leads to the release of oxygen which is what the atmosphere of Europa mainly consist of oxygen is the most important element in the organic chemistry processes on Earth and if it somehow gets under the ice on Europa it can become the fuel required for life to develop even if it's just bacteria it is also possible that

on Europa there are life forms that are not dependent on oxygen the so-called Anor robic organisms exist on Earth and in fact in the early history of the planet they were the dominant form of life the last Factor that's expected to be found through further study is the volcanic activity in the crust encircling the core of Europa in the depths of our ocean at the borders of continental plates hydrothermal flows break out the ground if we take a closer look we will see that the population around these places is incredibly high and includes some amazing

life forms alongside various corals It is believed that europa's rotation around Jupiter causes the same processes at the bottom of the moon's ocean and if so it is possible that life can be found near these hydrothermal zones and so we have all the necessary ingredients to create life now let's see why we can so confidently claim the presence of these conditions after the discovery of Europa and its relatives the satellites IO ganim and Kalisto it took almost 400 years before the uniqueness of these Galileo satellites was revealed in the 1960s groundbased observations showed that europa's

surface was mostly frozen water just like most other solid bodies in the outer solar system at first Europa seemed to be just an ordinary Icey satellite however further research showed that the reflectivity of europa's ice turned out to be incredibly high this pointed to the fact that the ice was too clear and formed relatively recently that was deemed unusual to get to the bottom of it the scientists needed to get a closer look they finally got that opportunity thanks to Voyager probes they photographed the surfaces of Jupiter's moons in great [Music] detail and it completely

changed the scientist's perception of this Moon indeed voyager's images show a surface brighter than that of the Earth's Moon dotted with numerous bands and ridges with a surprising absence of large impact craters tall Cliffs and mountains in other words a very smooth surface compared to other icy moons why was that surprising every object in the solar system is bombarded by meteorites but on Europa these traces are either incredibly faint or absent what do you say to that the researchers noted that some of the dark strip have opposing sides that fit together very well kind of

like puzzle pieces furthermore between these cracks there was some dark icy material that seemed to flow into the cracks this has made scientists speculate that the surface of this moon has been in active motion at least recently and so the absence of large impact craters indicates that europa's surface was relatively young at the same time this means that something had erased the traces of any impacts there are two possible ways to explain this as they escape from under the crust the streams of ice erase the traces of the meteorite hits or the ice sank under

its own weight along with any traces of the impacts in both cases it means that the icy surface is very Dynamic almost like there's a warmer layer underneath the scientists also found that the cracks they see do not match the predicted patterns that would form as a result of gravitational Tides as Europa orbits Jupiter there was a missing piece of the puzzle this led to a conclusion that europa's ice crust was not so solid it was determined that if europa's surface moved independently of the inner layers the patterns would match very well which would be

the case if there was a layer of liquid or slightly warmer ice between the Surface and the depth this spurred the scientists to learn more about Europa and soon they finally had an opportunity to do that the Galileo probe was launched in 1989 and enter Jupiter's orbit in 1995 Galileo's main mission included observing each of Jupiter's four satellites during repeat flybys the information sent by Galileo about Europa was so intriguing that the mission was extended to make a total of 12 close flybys near the icy Moon one of the most important pieces of data that

caught scientists attention showed that Jupiter's magnetic field collapses in the space around Europa scientists believe that the most likely reason for this magnetic anomaly was there is an ocean full of saltwater under the icy surface of Europa only a large body of water would have such an effect at this point scientists were more than sure that there was an ocean on Europa however this was only the beginning exploring Europa got even more intriguing after some research of the Antarctic ice shelf a new and truly stunning type of snow was discovered there and it appears the

same kind of snow could be falling on Europa surprisingly it seems to fall upwards how does it work it's simple the snow itself is lower in density and saltwater both in the earth's oceans and on Europa and the most amazing thing is that on Europa due to the thickness of the ice the snow most likely rises from the bottom up under the crust possibly forming the same kind of mountains as on Earth but upside down the next thing hinting at activity under the ice were the Geyers bursting from under the crust over the past 10

years they've been recorded three times by scientists these are burst of ice reaching at least 125 m in height according to calculations how does it happen scientists estimate that the depth of the ocean is about 35 to 65 mil and the thickness of the ice crust above it is about 12 to 20 mi it is precisely the relationship between the subglacial ocean and the ice lid during europa's revolution around Jupiter namely their friction and increasing temperature that causes the ice to crack and display those cracks ice geysers periodically break out from the cracks consisting of

warmer ice or even water one of these geysers was captured by Galileo unfortunately there was no way to collect samples of this substance at the same time it is also important to point out in the process of formation of such cracks oxygen from above europa's surface gets under the ice crust this is yet another factor that speaks to the possible existence of Life on Europa and now that we've already formed a certain picture in our mind we just need to wait because in addition to the mission that we mentioned earlier there will be another journey

and it will be entirely dedicated to studying Europa Europa Clipper the mission is scheduled to launch in 20 24 NASA has selected nine scientific tools for a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa to determine definitively whether the icy Moon could have conditions suited for Life the toolkit includes cameras and spectrometers for highresolution Imaging of europa's surface and to determine its composition this Glimpse will not just show us a picture will also make it possible to figure out exactly what we see another useful tool installed on the probe is a radar that will help to determine the

thickness of the eye shell of the satellite and find underground Lakes similar to those under the ice of Antarctica a magnetometer on board measuring the strength and direction of europa's magnetic field would allow scientists to determine the depth and the solinity of its ocean the thermal equipment will scan europa's surface for recent eruptions of warmer water while the remaining tools will will look for evidence of water and tiny particles in europa's rarified Atmosphere by collecting these samples scientists will be able to study the satellite's chemical composition in more detail painting a comprehensive picture of Europa

as a whole this will probably eliminate the need to drill through the ice and extract this information on the next mission it is expected that once the probe reaches its destination and begins to revolve around Europa in in 2030 the equipment will be able to do more than just understand the composition and structure of the Moon in detail after the Hubble telescope observed a water plume over the South Pole of Europa in 2012 scientists hope that a new ice geyser will be detected during the flyby and that it will be possible to collect samples the

main purpose of the mission is to determine over the course of the planned 45 to 50 flybys if there are places under the ice crust of Europa where life could exist the more detailed photographs of the satellite will allow scientists to select points of greatest interest for further observation they plan to get as close as 25 mi from the surface for comparison the Galileo only managed to get 160 Mi away from Europa of course it would be nice to get closer but the main obstacle for such task is the the incredibly harsh radiation field of

Jupiter which would not allow the probe to stay in its vicinity for a long time another problem with this study will be the lack of energy there will be solar panels on the probe but the distance from The Source the sun will affect the performance of the system as well as its capabilities but even those planned trios will be enough for a detailed study scientists are already planning another project to follow the Clipper Mission and processing of the data it will collect they want to land a robotic Probe on Europa that will try to penetrate

deeper into the ice and perhaps that's when extraterrestrial life could be found we just have to wait and look forward to new discoveries