Lake stars form when a specific set of conditions are met on a frozen lake
Berly McCoy/NPR
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Berly McCoy/NPR
When producer Berly McCoy was out on her local frozen lake, she saw something she’d never seen before. There were dark spidery, star-shaped patterns in the ice and they freaked her out. So, we called an expert to find out more about them. In today’s episode, geophysicist Victor Tsai tells us about lake stars and how he became the first person to scientifically prove how they form. Plus, he explains how knowing more about lake stars can potentially give us clues about the presence of water on Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons.
Read Victor Tsai’s full paper on lake stars here.
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This episode was produced by Berly McCoy. It was edited by Viet Le. Tyler Jones checked the facts. The audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley
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