Who invented marine life larger than the earth?

Humans now have two goals in exploring the universe. The first is to find a livable planet similar to Earth, and the second is to find "other life" in the universe. We always have a lot of illusions about the appearance of alien life, and influenced by the myth of Cthulhu, many aliens look like octopus.

Alien images in film and television works

For example, in the movie Europa Report, the creature Europa saw was like a glowing octopus. At first, people thought it was just a fiction movie, but it was not true, because Europa has an ocean bigger than the earth, although it is only 3 thousand kilometers in diameter. In this case, there may also be some "strange" marine life.

Alien life in Europa report

The much-watched Europa.

When people are looking for a livable planet, they are always very concerned about whether there is liquid water there. After all, water is the source of life. Therefore, although Europa is not big, it still attracts people's attention. As one of the many moons of Jupiter, it was discovered in 16 10 and belongs to one of the four moons of Jupiter.

Europa, the nickname of Europa, is the name of Phoenician princess in Greek mythology, which has an extraordinary position in the hearts of westerners. It can also be seen that Europa's position in people's minds is extraordinary.

Photo of Europa taken by Voyager 2.

Because of the particularity of Europa, people often regard it as an "immigrant alternative celestial body".

However, even if it can migrate, Europa can't carry too many humans, because it is a small man with a diameter of only 3 138 km, which is smaller than the moon. But this still can't stop scientists from expecting Europa, so it has always attracted much attention.

Comparison of the size of Europa and the earth

After long-term research, scientists have found that this celestial body made of silicate rocks is actually very similar to terrestrial planets, except that there is a layer of "ice shell" around it, just like the "ice moon cake" that everyone eats on holidays.

It is worth mentioning that Europa is not lifeless like other "frozen celestial bodies", but the water on the surface is permanently frozen. It's actually a piece of Wang Yang.

Schematic diagram of Europa's internal structure

In addition, many scientists believe that Europa's underground ocean is bigger than the earth's ocean. The big finger here does not necessarily refer to the surface area, but refers to its liquid water reserves and ocean depth, far exceeding the earth.

After all, in terms of size alone, Europa is really far from the earth.

Scientists believe that under Europa's ice shell with a thickness of about 10 km, there is a liquid water ocean with a depth of more than 100 km, and the huge energy generated by the gravitational interaction between Europa and Jupiter keeps the water warm.

Comparison chart of seawater volume between Europa and the earth

After sensing that there may be a vast ocean under Europa's thick ice, people began to associate with the creatures in this ocean. Someone made a movie called Europa Report.

This film describes that human beings drive a spaceship to explore Europa and are attacked by "mysterious creatures" under the ice. In the film, the manned spaceship is called "Europa I", and the creature that attacked people looks like a "mutant octopus".

So, is there really life in Europa's ocean? Is this a scientist's imagination or a fact?

Concept map of alien life in Europa ocean

Can Europa really breed life?

In our opinion, even if Europa really has a vast underground ocean, it should be difficult to breed life here. After all, we don't know the basic situation of the underground ocean.

However, scientists are optimistic about this. For example, NASA held a related meeting in 20 17. After announcing that Enceladus has all the elements needed for life, it is mentioned that Europa in a similar situation also has potential.

After that, people paid more attention to Europa's underground ocean, trying to find an environment similar to Europa's underground ocean on earth to prove that life really exists here. Most people thought that this search would be fruitless, but scientists did find it.

Concept map of Europa underground ocean

It turned out that the team of the Astrobiology Research Center of the University of S? o Paulo discovered an environment similar to Europa in the depths of the gold mine in Ponege, South Africa. The results show that the golden bacteria in the framework separate water molecules by ionizing radiation and survive without sunlight at all.

Douglas galante, a researcher, explained: "The water in this underground mine will flow through cracks containing radioactive uranium, and uranium will decompose water molecules to generate free radicals ... nucleotides that store energy in cells ... The living environment of gold-mining bacteria in this mine is very similar to that assumed to exist at the bottom of Europa."

Golden bacteria living 2.8 kilometers underground

So, in the dark sea bottom of Europa, there may really be Europa, a "strange creature" I met in the movie. There are several reasons why this guy looks like an octopus.

The first is the influence of the Cthulhu myth mentioned above, in which the "octopus prototype" is deeply rooted in people's hearts, which makes everyone have a profound influence on it.

The second reason is that the octopus itself is often called an "alien creature" by human beings, because it is not only very strange, but also extremely intelligent, and each tentacle can even have an independent "thinking".

Octopus is the smartest invertebrate in the world.

It's no exaggeration to say that if the life span of octopus had been longer and the skills it mastered could be passed down from generation to generation, human beings would have been wiped out by this horrible creature.

So it will be said that the creatures Io saw may be real. After all, in the "stereotype" of human beings, the "alien creatures" in the deep sea really look like octopus.

Concept map of alien life on Europa

In fact, in addition to Europa, scientists also believe that there may be life on some celestial bodies in the universe, and these celestial bodies all have "underground oceans" without exception. Let's see what other celestial bodies are on the list.

Underground oceans can breed life.

First of all, Enceladus, often mentioned with Europa, is the brightest satellite in the solar system. Although it was discovered many years later than Europa 100, it is also speculated that there is an "underground ocean".

Enceladus whose surface is completely covered with ice.

However, the underground ocean of Enceladus is nothing compared with the underground ocean of Europa. After all, this guy is too small, with a diameter of only 505 kilometers, which is about one sixth of the diameter of Europa.

After studying and analyzing the situation of Enceladus' underground ocean, scientists concluded that Enceladus' ocean is not large under more than 30 kilometers of ice, similar to Lake Superior. In contrast, Europa's ocean is more attractive.

Schematic diagram of the internal structure of Enceladus

Secondly, Titan, the "Big Mac" in Saturn's moons, is called Titan. According to the current observation data, the average radius of Titan is 2575 kilometers, which means it is larger than Pluto, which has been kicked off the planet.

Titan not only has a peculiar atmosphere, but also a sea of liquid methane may be hidden under its ice. Scientists believe that the ocean here is very similar to Lake Vostok in Antarctica. The lake has been frozen underground for millions of years, and people have found some simple "life" in it.

If this is taken as a reference, then there may be simple life in Titan's underground ocean.

The methane lake on Titan photographed by Cassini

Finally, there is the liquid nitrogen ocean on Triton. Arguably, in this extremely cold place, it is impossible to have life, at least carbon-based life may die here. However, scientists suggest that the existence of life in the universe should be diverse. In this case, "silicon-based life" should be bred in the ocean of Triton.

In short, most of the above are human predictions and guesses. Whether there is a liquid ocean in these celestial bodies and whether there is life in them may not be known until the day we really arrive.

The imagination of silicon-based life

However, hope is better than no hope. In recent years, human beings have been repeatedly thrown cold water in their exploration, and every revival is due to these "beautiful expectations."

NASA has also made it clear that it will launch Europa Fast Sail, a probe that only focuses on Europa. It will pass Europa 40 to 50 times at close range and bypass it for more than 3 years.

Concept map of Europa's fast sailing mission

In this case, mankind will certainly get more information about Europa's underground ocean. Let us look forward to this day!