Tonight 'The paradoxical Earth' has life appearing, how to observe?

On the rare occasion when our planet is at opposition , with good binoculars you can see Europa, our closest potentially habitable world.

Europa is one of Jupiter's four Galilean moons, along with the volcanic moon Io , the planet-sized moon Ganymede, and the "purple moon" Calisto . Europa is known as a "moon of life ," not extinct life like Mars, but life that exists.

On the night of September 26, its parent planet - Jupiter - will come closest to Earth in 59 years at a distance of more than 590 million km according to NASA's calculations, thanks to two overlapping phenomena .

• One is that Jupiter is entering opposition, meaning it and Earth are symmetrical about the center, which is Earth, on a straight line.
• Second, the elliptical orbits of Jupiter and Earth accidentally push them closest together.

Jupiter's four Galilean moons, from top to bottom: Ganymede, Calisto, Europa and Io - (Image: NASA/ASTRONOMY).

Normally , if the weather is good and the sky is not covered by clouds, you can always see Jupiter with the naked eye under yellow-white light, because it is so huge, with a mass 318 times that of Earth.

More spectacularly, whenever Jupiter is at opposition, it will show off its four Galilean moons to Earthlings. But because they are so far away, you will need good binoculars to see them, preferably with a tripod because you will need to hold them still.

It was a rare opportunity, as these moons can usually only be seen with a telescope. Jupiter's closest approach in 59 years also means these four moons will be the clearest they've been in 59 years.

The way to observe them is similar to the way to observe celestial bodies in general : It is best to choose an open space, with a wide view of the sky, for example on the terrace. Let your eyes get used to the darkness for a while and look for Jupiter in the sky. Depending on the time of observation, it will be in different positions but in general it is clearly visible to the naked eye.

Zooming through binoculars towards the giant planet, you can see 3-4 Galilean moons.

Back on Europa, clear signs of oxygen, water and other life-supporting chemicals have been detected on this celestial body by the two Jupiter probes Galileo and Juno. Galileo (launched in 1989) was the first lucky one to be. sprayed with water vapor when it flew past this moon of life.

Europa's structure is like an "inverted Earth", where living worlds exist below the crust instead of above, but the elements suitable for life are similar.

Numerous studies have shown evidence that this moon is habitable because it has a subsurface ocean under its icy crust, where the water is warm and has hydrothermal systems similar to those in Hawaii or Antarctica, the 'fountains of life' on Earth. The only difference is that it is like an 'inverted Earth' because the habitable world is located below the crust instead of above.

Most recently, research from the University of Texas at Austin - USA suggests that life still exists in this place.

With similar beliefs, the world's two largest space agencies, NASA and ESA (the US and European space agencies), both plan to send probes to land directly on Europa, the earliest of which is NASA's Europa Clipper (expected to launch in 2024), carrying ice-penetrating radar and a swarm of microscopic robots that will try to drill through the ice shell and dive into the underground ocean to hunt for life.