This collage of images shows photos of Europa taken during the Galileo mission, including many interesting surface features of this moon.
Click on image for full size
NASA
Surface of Europa
The picture to the left shows examples of the many amazing different surface features of Europa.
Many exciting discoveries were made about Europa during the
Galileo mission. The surface of Europa is unusual, even for an icy moon. It appears that the surface has a new surface, rather than being ancient. Instead of craters, there appear to be strange cracks extending for many kilometers over the surface of the moon. Closeup images of the surface suggest that there might be an
ocean under the icy surface.
The surface of Europa also shows a form of volcanism found on Earth as well as on icy moons called
icy-volcanism. Other features include faulting and changes in the icy crust common to environments where volcanism is found. The surface also shows evidence of
new molecules that form because of
radiation in the environment!
All this evidence for geologic activity points to the presence of active heating in the interior of Europa.
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The Galileo spacecraft was launched on October 19, 1989. Galileo had two parts: an orbiter and a descent probe that parachuted into Jupiter's atmosphere. Galileo's main mission was to explore Jupiter and
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The surface of Europa shows many signs of that there may be an ocean under the surface: * flooded terrain * 'freckles' * rafting * 'mushy' craters, and * spreading centers. Taken together, these pieces
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This is an example of the surface of Europa. The surface may be flooded by fresh water from underground, which freezes when it touches the surface. The edges of the flow are rounded, like a puddle of water.
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Europa was first discovered by Galileo in 1610, making it one of the Galilean Satellites. It is Jupiter's 4th largest moon, 670,900 km from Jupiter. With a diameter that is about half the distance across
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The surface of Ganymede is halfway between that of Callisto and that of Europa. Portions of the crust are of ancient age, while other portions are relatively new. The little white dots shown in this image
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It is unlikely that the icy moons have an atmosphere. The reason they have no atmosphere is because they do not have enough gravity. Gravity depends upon the amount of substance (mass) contained in a body.
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Amalthea was discovered by E Barnard in 1872. Of the 17 moons it is the 3rd closest to Jupiter, with a standoff distance of 181,300 km. Amalthea is about the size of a county or small state, and is just
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