SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- New pictures from the Galileo spacecraft show a fault line splitting the surface of Europa, a Jupiter moon that some scientists think may have life-sustaining water beneath its crust of ice.
Researchers at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union on Monday said the fault line resembles the infamous San Andreas in California and makes Europa look like a "cracked cue ball."Beneath the fault, and perhaps the entire icy crust, could exist a salty ocean. If that is proven true, it would be the first body in the solar system besides Earth to be shown to have liquid water. It would make Europa -- along with Callisto, another moon of Jupiter that might have liquid water -- a prime location to look for traces of life.
"There has been a convergence of evidence that supports the existence of a liquid ocean on Europa," said Christopher Chyba, a consulting scientist at Stanford University.
The fault extends for more than 500 miles and curves down and across the bottom of the moon. The images show that about 30 miles of displacement, or movement, has taken place along the fault.
Like the San Andreas, it is a strike-slip fault. Rather than moving up and down, the sides of the fault move horizontally past each other like opposing lanes of traffic.
"Comparisons between it and faults on Earth may generate ideas we can use in studying movements here on our planet," said Randy Tufts of the University of Arizona. "On Europa, we can see this structure very clearly. It's not covered by trees like the San Andreas."