James Webb Space Telescope Observations of Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Sammanfattning: The creation of life has puzzled humanity since the dawn of time. With the launch of thecutting-edge James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at last year's closing, the next step in humanity'ssearch for life has been taken. A prime candidate for this exists right here in our solar system,Jupiter's moon Europa, a moon which exhibits great potential for supporting life. Under its icysurface, there lies a hidden, subterranean ocean of liquid water. This, coupled with a presence ofCO2, could be a very conducive environment for the appearance of life. This project examines thepresence and distribution of CO2 on the Europan surface, both clues on the makeup of thesubterranean ocean, as well as the quality and capabilities of the JWST. The NIRSpec instrument onthe JWST, with the IFU observing mode, F290LP filter and G395H grating, was used to probe theelements and compounds present on the icy surface using spectroscopy. This combination coveredthe wavelength range between 2.87 and 5.27 microns (micrometers). Within this range, the presenceof CO2 was probed at an absorption band at 4.25 microns. Using these data from the JWST, aspectrum of the albedo of Europa, in addition to a map indicating the distribution of CO2 on thesurface, was created. Clear signs of CO2 have been found on the surface. However, its extent anddistribution could not be firmly determined, with the exception of the area called Tara Regio. Thisregion indicated clear concentrations of CO2. These findings show that the JWST's ability to generatespectral maps, i.e., images with spectral information in each pixel, can be a great tool for studyingcertain parts of Europa for its surface composition.