Is Jupiter's moon Ganymede habitable? Scientists make a vital discovery - Inverse

New information from Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and archival images from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) from 1998 to 2010 has found a culprit behind this mysterious phenomenon: Ganymede releases water vapor from its icy surface.

The recent findings are detailed in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy and provide scientists with precious insight on other icy moons in the Solar System that may host water and the possibility of life.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus also has evidence of a subsurface ocean and plumes of water ice and vapor erupting from the moon’s south polar region, making it one of the most potentially habitable places of the Solar System.

When searching for habitability outside of Earth, scientists often look for water as one of the main indicators that a celestial object could host some form of life.

Icy moons like Ganymede and Enceladus may not look like Earth, but they could be habitable in their own way.