This picture shows two images of Europa taken by the Galileo spacecraft. One taken in natural light (to the left), and the other with colors enhanced by computer.
Click on image for full size
NASA
Europa
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 ( miles) from Jupiter. Europa's diameter is about half the distance across the United States, 3138 km (1950 miles), and is close to the same size as the
Earth's moon (click
here to learn more about Earth's Moon and Europa).
Europa is named after one of
Jupiter's many girlfriends from
Greek mythology. The
Galileo spacecraft discovered that there may be an
ocean under its icy surface! The last time an ocean was discovered was the Pacific Ocean, 500 years ago. This means Europa is one of the few
moons in the solar system that may have liquid water, which scientists think is friendly to
life. The
surface has many neat features, even though it is mainly made of
ice. Europa also has a very thin
atmosphere.
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