images

Jupiter from Europa's surface - Illustration

by

Walter B. Myers/Novapix

Reference

a-jup99-00040

Date

2009-07-21

Europa is Jupiter's fourth largest satellite and is slightly smaller than the Earth's Moon. Europa is believed to be composed of silicate rocks with a layer of water ice covering the entire surface.
This image is inspired by recent discoveries on Europa of regions that look very much like pack-ice on Earth's polar seas during spring thaws. The perspective is from an altitude of several thousand feet. The large crater in the foreground is about a half-mile in diameter.
It may be that beneath Europa's surface ice there is a layer of liquid water, perhaps as much as 30 miles deep. This subsurface "ocean" would be kept liquid by tidally generated heat.