I'm Really Going to Become an Immortal
Chapter 609 - 360: Europa: Damn it! _2

Chapter 609: Chapter 360: Europa: Damn it! _2

Regarding the gravitational sphere of influence of Jupiter, there are some misconceptions that need to be clarified.

As the largest planet in the Solar System, Jupiter indeed possesses a powerful gravitational pull, but this doesn’t mean it has a specific "gravitational range" or "gravitational radius" as some non-scientific articles might describe.

In fact, the gravitational influence of a celestial body is infinite, although the strength of the gravity decreases rapidly with distance.

According to Newton’s law of universal gravitation, Jupiter’s gravitational influence extends indefinitely throughout the universe, but at distances far from Jupiter, this influence becomes extremely weak,

so much so that one doesn’t need to travel far from Jupiter before its gravity can be considered negligible in practical applications.

Although Jupiter exerts gravitational influences on some smaller celestial bodies within the Solar System, such as comets or asteroids, these influences are usually confined to the area around Jupiter, particularly within the range of Jupiter’s Hill Sphere.

The Hill Sphere refers to the region in space where a celestial body can effectively dominate with its own gravitational pull against the stellar gravitational field.

For Jupiter, its Hill Sphere radius is about 50 million kilometers, meaning that within this distance, Jupiter’s gravitational influence on other bodies is greater than that of the Sun.

However, this does not mean that Jupiter’s gravitational influence is limited to this distance. It just means that beyond this distance, the Sun’s gravitational pull starts to dominate.

Therefore, when Chen Yun arrived at the "gravitational range" of Jupiter, he essentially entered Jupiter’s Hill Sphere.

With only about fifty million kilometers left to Jupiter,

he was nearly there.

At this point,

Chen Yun hit the brakes,

not to come to an immediate halt, but to decelerate by appropriately applying reverse force.

He also made a directional change.

Compared to heading straight for Jupiter, which wasn’t very interesting, Chen Yun preferred to head straight for Europa.

As is well known,

Jupiter is a large gas giant.

Though it contains liquid hydrogen and a hot, high-pressure core, most of the planet is still filled with endless storms.

In comparison,

Europa seems far more appealing.

It is the largest moon in the Solar System and has always been a focal point for the scientific community.

Europa’s surface is covered with thick ice sheets, beneath which there may be a vast ocean of liquid water.

The existence of this ocean could potentially provide a habitat for life. Additionally, though thin, Europa’s atmosphere contains oxygen, which further increases its habitability potential.

Europa’s uniqueness lies in its complex internal structure, especially since scientists have long suspected that life could exist in its internal ocean.

This made Chen Yun far more interested in Europa than in Jupiter itself.

After adjusting his course, the iron-sphere-like Super-visual Range Position Perception Token sped toward Europa.

Now that he had reached Jupiter’s gravitational range,

he was naturally not far from Europa.

Chen Yun, continuing without further decelerating, moved forward at a still considerable speed.

Nearly half an hour later,

as the distance decreased, the features of Europa became clearer.

Huge ice plains, fissures, and impact craters formed the unique terrain of this moon.

Chen Yun’s consciousness, through the token, felt the cold and silence of Europa’s surface.

Because he hadn’t yet entered the range of ten thousand meters, many details were unclear; he could only make a rough judgment based on the optical information emitted, suggesting a slightly desolate atmosphere.

Soon after, the iron sphere entered Europa’s orbit.

The whole process did not require the slow, steady adjustments of speed and angle as other spacecraft typically must when landing on the Moon.

Chen Yun’s approach was more direct.

The gravity on Europa was about 0.15 times that of Earth.

Though not substantial, it began to exert a drag effect on the iron sphere.

Chen Yun did not resist this gravitational pull.

In fact, he was indeed preparing to land on Europa.

Thus, he deactivated the continuous acceleration of his Spiritual Position and allowed Europa’s gravitational pull to accelerate his descent toward the surface.

Although Chen Yun did not further accelerate, he merely used his Spiritual Position to protect the iron sphere from damage.

But his previous speed was still very fast.

Chen Yun did not care at all.

This was not Earth, so there was no need to worry about whether his movements would have any impact.

And this mere iron sphere with a radius of over a meter, even though it still traveled at a speed of over sixty Mach, could not possibly directly destroy Europa, which had twice the mass and 3.5 times the volume of the Moon.

Just like that.

Pulled by Europa’s gravity, the iron sphere fell towards the ground at an extremely high speed.

Though Europa’s atmosphere was thin, at high-speed impact, it still produced a noticeable friction effect.

A fiery ball formed around the iron ball, illuminating the surrounding dark space, like a small meteor slicing through the night sky.

As the altitude decreased, the air around the iron ball became denser, and the heat generated from the friction increased accordingly.

Despite this, Chen Yun’s Spiritual Position remained unbreakable, protecting the iron ball from any effects of high temperature and pressure.

So much so that even though the surface temperature of the iron ball rapidly rose, it had no effect on its internal stability or Chen Yun’s consciousness.

Eventually, the iron ball broke through the atmosphere.

And crashed directly onto the surface of Europa.

A massive collision sound echoed across the silent ice plains, deafening.

The speed of the iron ball did not drop much, crashing into the ice surface at over sixty Mach, instantly creating a huge impact crater.

Ice shards splattered everywhere.

The fragments scattered in the air like snowflakes and before they even had a chance to fall back to the surrounding ground, they were instantly melted by the high temperature generated by the impact.

Then the water vapor was swept far away by the shockwave and hurricane.

Because this ice, formed over countless years, was hard enough.

Thus, the crater had a diameter of only about a hundred meters and a depth of almost several tens of meters.

The surrounding ice surface was cracked with countless tiny fissures, creating a complex webbed structure.

The impact generated vibrations that affected an area of several kilometers, with some smaller pieces of ice and rocks rolling around.

Chen Yun’s consciousness also felt the impact force through the iron ball, but he did not feel any discomfort.

On the contrary, this intense sensory experience excited him even more.

He knew that although this impact caused huge damage, it was merely an inconsequential event for the entirety of Europa.

Though the speed of the iron ball was fast.

Considering its mass and volume were not enough, it naturally could not have a significant impact on the whole of Europa.

Of course.

Even though the impact was minor, if Europa had been conscious, it would probably have said, "Damn!"

But Chen Yun didn’t care about these things.

Apart from that trip to the Moon, this was almost his first time going to another planet, even if this time it was just an out-of-body experience, but he was still quite excited.

As the iron ball came to a steady halt at the bottom of the impact crater, the surrounding ice surface gradually returned to calm.

Chen Yun immediately controlled the iron ball to go out and start exploring.

There were no detection devices on the iron ball, just a simple solid iron ball.

However, with the undiminished spiritual power assisting, Chen Yun could achieve detection results better than any detection device.

As the Spiritual Position began to perform a detailed scan of the surrounding environment.

He first inspected the internal structure of the impact crater and discovered some interesting geological features, such as fissures under the ice layer and possible traces of underground water.

Then, Chen Yun controlled the iron ball to slowly rise and leave the impact crater.

Continuing to explore the surface of Europa.

The iron ball moved slowly across the ice plains, Chen Yun’s consciousness experiencing every detail of Europa’s surface, and slowly expanding the range he could perceive.

He noticed that there were many ancient impact craters and fissures on this ice plain, these geological features recounting Europa’s long history.

Chen Yun’s heart was filled with curiosity.

This was probably the farthest he had ever traveled.

Under this mysterious ice plain, there might be hidden abundant resources and signs of life.

Although he was not a scientist.

He was still quite concerned about whether there were aliens.

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