This image of Jupiter ’s moon Europa was conquer by the JunoCam pawn aboard NASA ’s Juno spacecraft during the mission ’s close flyby on September 29 , 2022 . The image shows the fault , ridges , and banding that crisscross the moon ’s surface . look-alike data : NASA / JPL - Caltech / SwRI / MSSS . figure of speech processing : Björn Jónsson ( cubic centimetre BY 3.0 )
NASA ’s Juno missionary work is busy studying not only the planet of Jupiter , with its strange weather and impregnable magnetic field , but also several of its icy moons , including the challenging Europa . Often atop target area of habitability enquiry , Europa is exciting as a likely legion for lifespan because it is thought to have a liquid water sea — although this ocean is beneath an icy crust up to 15 miles thick . Juno has take high - definition photos of Europa ’s surface , and scientist have latterly analyzed this data to identify fracture and other features bleed across the icy carapace .
The researchers bear to find chump in the surface like ridges and troughs , but what they were surprised to see were large pits up to 30 miles wide . The surface feature article suggest that the glacial crust is not locked into place , but is floating on top of the ocean and can move — a hypothesis called honest frigid wander .
This image of Jupiter’s moon Europa was captured by the JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s close flyby on September 29, 2022. The image shows the fractures, ridges, and bands that crisscross the moon’s surface.Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Björn Jónsson (CC BY 3.0)
“ honest arctic wander occurs if Europa ’s gelid shell is decouple from its stony interior , resulting in high emphasis levels on the shell , which pass to predictable fracture pattern , ” said Candy Hansen , a Juno carbon monoxide gas - detective who lead planning for JunoCam at the Planetary Science Institute , in astatement . “ This is the first time that these fracture patterns have been map out in the southern hemisphere , suggesting that true diametrical wander ’s gist on Europa ’s Earth’s surface geology is more all-inclusive than antecedently identify . ”
In addition to the colour images of Europa direct by Juno ’s JunoCam legal document , there are also black - and - white images taken by its Stellar Reference Unit ( SRU ) camera . The SRU was originally designed to aid point the spacecraft in the right direction , but researchers have found that they can also use it for scientific discipline , as it is particularly utile for studying features in lowlight conditions .
The Juno team used the SRU to take picture of Europa ’s nightside , when it faced off from the sun and the only lighter it received was sun that was contemplate from Jupiter . That helped them to see feature like ridges and stains that appear to be due to water plumes jetting up from the ocean beneath the icy crust . That means there are potentially still ice vent active on Europa , which is exciting for future missions planned to visit the moon .
“ These features confidential information at present - day surface activity and the presence of subsurface liquid water supply on Europa , ” tell Heidi Becker , jumper cable co - investigator for the SRU at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory . “ The SRU ’s epitome is a high-pitched - quality service line for specific places NASA ’s Europa Clipper mission and ESA ’s [ European Space Agency ’s ] Juice missions can aim to look for sign of change and saltwater . ”
The research is publish in thePlanetary Science JournalandJGR Planets .
