NASA has finally confirmed the speculations first made in the 1970s that water is present on Ganymede, the largest moon of our solar system.

Scientists used the Hubble telescope to study the movement of auroral lights around the Jupiter’s moon. Jim Green, Director of planetary science at NASA, was of the view that as they are exploring individual moons, they are finding more indications of the presence of water in abundance.

Green said that Ganymede has amazing auroras forming due to magnetic field. With the rotation of Jupiter, its magnetic field also shifts making Ganymede’s aurora to move from its position.

More than 100 computer models were evaluated to know if something else is influencing aurora of Ganymede. The researchers affirmed that the Hubble observations were repeated and data for both the belts of aurora were analyzed.

The researchers said that a massive saltwater ocean is present under the surface of the ocean. It might be countering the effects of Jupiter’s magnetic field.

Study’s lead researcher Joachim Saur of the University of Cologne in Germany said that if the aurorae are seen in the proper manner then things can be known about the magnetic field. If the magnetic field is known then facts can be known about the moon’s interior.

As per the estimates, the ocean is 60 miles thick and 10 timed deeper than the deepest ocean on earth. One of the major problems coming in the way to further study the finding is that the ocean is beneath around 95 miles of ice on the surface of the moon.

“Every observation that we make, every mission that we send to various places in the solar system is just taking us one step further to finding that truly habitable environment, a water-rich environment”, affirmed Heidi Hammel, executive vice-president of Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.