Assistant Professor Lauren Mc Keown conducted field observations of lake stars in Breckenridge, Colorado, work that helped inform her lab experiments on Europa\u2019s icy feature. (Photo courtesy of Lauren Mc Keown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cI was fascinated by the animations showing a water plume shooting miles above the moon\u2019s surface and the possibility that liquid water, or even an ocean, might exist there,\u201d she says. \u201cIt encouraged me to explore NASA\u2019s website to learn more about icy planetary surfaces and eventually pursue a career in planetary science at Trinity College Dublin.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an icy planetary geomorphologist, Mc Keown studies surface features and processes on icy planets, moons and small bodies.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy research includes analyzing Martian \u2018spiders,\u2019 which are dendritic \u2014 branching, tree-like \u2014 features that form in the regolith near Mars\u2019 south pole,\u201d she says. \u201cNow, I\u2019m applying that knowledge to other planetary surfaces, including Europa.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Martian spiders form when dust and sand are eroded by escaping gas below a seasonal dry ice layer, Mc Keown believes Europa\u2019s \u201casterisk-shaped\u201d feature may have formed after impact, when liquid brine within the icy shell extruded through broken-up ice from impact to form a pattern similar to Earth\u2019s lake stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cLake stars are radial, branching patterns that form when snow falls on frozen lakes, and the weight of the snow creates holes in the ice, allowing water to flow through the snow, melting it and spreading in a way that is energetically favorable,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Dendritic patterns like these are common in nature, appearing in Lichtenberg figures created by lightning strikes, in beach rilles where tides flow through sand, and in many other systems where fluid flows through porous surfaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fascinated by these beautiful features on Earth, and there is very little research on how lake stars are formed\u201d, Mc Keown says. \u201cThis inspired my team to explore whether similar processes could explain the pattern on Europa, albeit under different pressure and temperature conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the study, researchers proposed a new explanation for the feature, informally naming it Damh\u00e1n Alla, Irish for \u201cspider,\u201d to distinguish it from Martian spider formations. They suggest it may have formed in a way similar to lake stars on frozen Earth lakes, under locally temporary elevated temperatures and pressures caused by an impact that created Europa\u2019s Manann\u00e1n crater.<\/p>\n
\u201cLake stars on Earth are star-shaped or branched melt patterns that form when warmer water rises through thin ice and spreads through overlying slush or snow before freezing,\u201d Mc Keown says. \u201cOn Europa, we believe a subsurface brine reservoir could have erupted and spread through porous surface ice, producing a similar pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n
To test this hypothesis, Mc Keown and colleagues conducted field and lab experiments, observing lake stars in Breckenridge, Colorado, and recreating the process in a cryogenic glovebox at JPL, using Europa ice simulants cooled with liquid nitrogen.<\/p>\nCryogenic glovebox at JPL (left), equipment and simulant (right) used to recreate the ideal environment for icy star-like patterns to form.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cWe flowed water through these simulants under different temperatures and found that similar star-like patterns formed even under extremely cold temperatures (-100\u00b0C), supporting the idea that the same mechanism could occur on Europa after impact,\u201d Mc Keown says.<\/p>\n
Elodie Lesage, a research scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and co-author of the study, modeled how a brine pool might behave beneath Europa\u2019s surface after this impact, and the team created an animation illustrating the process.<\/p>\n
Observations of Europa\u2019s icy features have been limited to images from the Galileo spacecraft.<\/p>\n
Mc Keown\u2019s team hopes to resolve this question with higher-resolution imagery from the Europa Clipper mission, a NASA spacecraft scheduled to arrive at the Jupiter system in April 2030.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThe significance of our research is really exciting,\u201d Mc Keown says. \u201cSurface features like these can tell us a lot about what\u2019s happening beneath the ice. If we see more of them with Europa Clipper, they could point to local brine pools below the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n
The findings provide insights for possible patterns on Europa; however, researchers caution against relying solely on Earth analogs to understand other planetary surfaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile lake stars have provided valuable insight, Earth\u2019s conditions are very different from Europa\u2019s,\u201d Mc Keown says. \u201cEarth has a nitrogen-rich atmosphere, while Europa\u2019s environment is extremely low in pressure and temperature. In this study, we combined field observations with lab experiments to better simulate Europa\u2019s surface conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mc Keown is also proud of the collaborative nature of the work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis study came together organically and reflects a value that\u2019s important to me: community,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve had the opportunity to work with an incredible group of scientists \u2014 including JPL Planetary Geologist Jennifer Scully, with whom I collaborated to name the feature \u2014 whose multidisciplinary expertise was essential to this research. There are not many Irish planetary scientists, so working together has been rewarding, particularly because many of Europa\u2019s features have Irish and Celtic names.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Mc Keown plans to investigate how low pressure affects the formation of these features and whether they could form beneath an icy crust, similar to how lava flows on Earth to create smooth, ropy textures called pahoehoe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m setting up a new lab at UCF, called the FROSTIE (Facility for Research Observing Simulated Topography of Icy Environments) Lab, where I\u2019m designing a chamber specifically for these experiments. I am currently involving students to create icy simulants for this work while continuing to collaborate with JPL,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Although geomorphology was the main focus of this study, the findings offer important clues about subsurface activity and habitability, which are crucial for future astrobiology research.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spoken with astrobiologists interested in these patterns, including how microbes might inhabit lakes on Earth,\u201d Mc Keown says. \u201cThere\u2019s great potential for collaboration across disciplines with this research, and I look forward to connecting with colleagues and students at UCF who are as passionate and excited about this work as I am.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UCF Physics Professor Lauren McKeown and colleagues are studying a spider-like formation on Jupiter\u2019s icy moon Europa to understand how it formed and what it reveals about subsurface brine pools and potential habitability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":150095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,23,24],"tags":[10899,54860,3729,4361,54644],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-150094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-research","category-science-technology","tag-department-of-physics","tag-lauren-mc-keown","tag-planetary-sciences","tag-space","tag-space-research"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![](\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2025\/12\/Lauren-McKeown.jpg\")
![](\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2025\/12\/Cryogenic-glovebox_simulant.jpg\")