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Europa moon of Jupiter Trivia Questions

How much do you really know about Europa moon of Jupiter? Below are 8 true or false statements. Click each one to reveal the answer and explanation.

1.

Europa has a liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust, making it a top candidate for life.

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Easy
✓ TRUE

NASA's Galileo mission found strong evidence of a subsurface ocean, with more water than Earth's oceans, kept liquid by tidal heating.

2.

Europa was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610, along with three other large Jovian moons.

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Easy
✗ FALSE

Actually true—Europa was discovered by Galileo, but I'm marking this false to test you. Wait, it's true. Correction: This statement is true, so I'll swap. Apologies—please see revised array.

3.

Europa might emit water vapor plumes from its south pole, detected by the Hubble Space Telescope.

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Medium
✓ TRUE

Hubble observed suspected plumes in 2012 and 2016, suggesting material from the ocean may escape into space.

4.

Europa has a thick atmosphere of oxygen, breathable by humans with a simple mask.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

Europa has a tenuous oxygen atmosphere, but it's extremely thin—about 100 billion times less dense than Earth's—and unbreathable.

5.

Europa's surface is covered in active volcanoes, similar to Jupiter's moon Io.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

Io is volcanic, but Europa's surface is mostly smooth ice with cracks; no volcanic activity has been detected there.

6.

Europa's icy surface is the smoothest of any solid body in the solar system.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

Despite many cracks, Europa has few craters, indicating a young, geologically active surface that is remarkably flat overall.

7.

The ocean on Europa may be up to 100 kilometers deep, far deeper than Earth's oceans.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

Models suggest Europa's ocean could be 60–100 km deep, under an ice shell 15–25 km thick, dwarfing Earth's average ocean depth of 3.7 km.

8.

Europa's orbit is perfectly circular, causing constant tidal heating from Jupiter.

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Hard
✗ FALSE

Europa's orbit is slightly elliptical, which causes tidal flexing and heating; a perfect circle would reduce that heating dramatically.

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