NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which is exploring Jupiter, has captured its most detailed image of the ice-covered, ocean-bearing moon Europa, which scientists say is one of the most likely places in the solar system to host extraterrestrial life.
The picture, taken last week during JunoThe mysterious moon’s close flyby reveals a frozen surface riddled with ridges and grooves and a wealth of unusual features. Dark patches stain the ice in the image’s upper-right corner and lower-right center, which scientists believe may have been formed by material rising from the depths of the ice Europe‘s ocean and erupted on the ice.
The image, which shows an area 150 km long and 200 km wide, also reveals a strange depression in the shape of a musical quarter note, stretching 67 km north to south and 23 miles (37 km) east to west in the lower half of the picture. The tiny white dots scattered all over the image, scientists said in a expressionare “signatures of penetrating high-energy particles from the strong radiative environment around the moon”.
Related: NASA flyby of Jupiter’s large moon Ganymede reveals auroras and huge unidentified craters
Juno took the picture on September 29 when it was performing next pass of Europe, hurtling about 256 miles (412 km) across the Moon’s icy shell at 15 mps (24 kps). The images offer scientists the most detailed views of Europa’s surface since Galileo probe‘s flyby in 2000.
Juno captured the image with its Stellar Reference Unit Camera (SRU), which normally helps Juno maintain its orientation by determining the spacecraft’s position in relation to stars in the surrounding cosmos, but during the flyby the SRU served as a science instrument and captured the stunning black and white image.
The image shows Europa’s surface at a resolution of 840 to 1,115 feet (256 to 340 m) per pixel. Interestingly, the SRU captured the image at night when the only light illuminating the moon was reflected off the moon’s tips Jupiters clouds.
“This image unlocks an incredible level of detail in a region not previously imaged with such resolution and under such revealing lighting conditions,” said Heidi Becker, the SRU’s lead co-investigator, in the statement. “The science team’s use of a star tracker camera is a great example of Juno’s groundbreaking capabilities. These features are so fascinating. Understanding how they formed – and how they are connected to the history of Europe – informs us about internal and external processes that shape the ice crust.”
SRU has previously proven its value in capturing images in low light when it snapped photos of it Jupiter’s faint rings and discovered shallow lightning bolts in it Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Juno’s primary scientific goal was to focus solely on the gas giant Jupiter, but as the Mission was renewed last yearscientists were able to plan some observing time for three of the planets four major moons.
In June 2021, Juno made a close flyby Ganymedethe largest moon in all solar systemsimilar striking images were taken.
“With this flyby of Europa, Juno has now seen close-up images of two of Jupiter’s most interesting moons, and their ice-shell crusts look very different,” Scott Bolton, a physicist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and Juno’s principal investigator, said in the statement. “In 2023 yesthe most volcanic body in the solar system will join the club.”
Scientists are still analyzing data collected during the recent Europa flyby in hopes of learning more about the fascinating world that many believe may harbor microbial life in the depths of its subsurface ocean. However, Juno is unlikely to find out if anything lives beneath Europa’s frozen crust.
NASA’s Europe clippers mission set to launch in 2024 with the sole purpose of studying Europe may have a better chance of answering this big question. Equipped with an array of nine high-tech instruments, Europa Clipper will learn all about the moon without having to land on its surface. The Juno images will aid in Europa Clipper’s mission planning.
Europa is the sixth largest moon in the solar system, only about 10% smaller than Earth’s moon.
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