While this year’s search for aliens ultimately didn’t yield results, that doesn’t mean life can’t exist outside of Earth. NASA is constantly on the lookout for potential environments like our own, which recently culminated in the discovery of a substantial amount of carbon on one of Jupiter’s moons. Europa, the moon in question, had already fulfilled one of the major requirements for life by having an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface. However, carbon is a far more exciting discovery as it is the building block of all life on earth.
According to observations made through the Webb Space Telescope, the carbon was found in the region Tara Regio. Commonly referred to as “the chaos region,” it’s a recent (geologically speaking) surface formation of rock that managed to break through the moon’s icy shell. Astronomers believe the carbon it contains came from its time as part of the ocean floor rather than an external source, which was determined through careful analysis. In addition, the Hubble Space Telescope has observed plumes of water erupting from Europa multiple times throughout the years. Researchers have yet to confirm these findings through a different lens, but they suggest that plumes might appear infrequently and will continue to pursue the possibility. Alien life may not be as close as some wanted to believe, but it may not be as far away as scientists previously thought either. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time something previously designated to the realm of science fiction became fact.