Observations by the Juno spacecraft have provided the first close-up view of Europa, Jupiter's moon, in more than two decades. The highest-resolution photo ever taken by Juno shows a detailed view of the satellite's highly fractured icy crust.
The image covers about 150x200 km of Europa's surface, showing an area crisscrossed by a network of thin furrows and double ridges (pairs of long parallel lines indicating elevations in the ice). In the upper right corner of the image, and just to the right and below the centre, dark spots can be seen, possibly associated with eruptions on the surface. The white dots in the image are signatures of penetrating high-energy particles from the harsh radiation environment around the moon.
Juno's camera, used to orient the spacecraft, acquired a black-and-white image as the probe circled Europe on 29 September 2022, at a distance of about 412 km. The image was captured as Juno swept at about 24km/s over a part of the surface that was dimly illuminated at night by the "Jupiter glow" - sunlight reflected from the planet's cloud tops.
The camera, designed for low-light conditions, has also proved to be a valuable scientific tool, detecting lightning in Jupiter's atmosphere and taking pictures of the planet's ring system. The camera is now photographing Europe's most interesting geological formations.
Juno will approach another Jupiter satellite, Io, in 2023.
Europa is the sixth largest satellite in the solar system. Scientists believe there is a salty ocean beneath its thick ice shell. NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will be launched in the early 2030s to try to answer questions about Europa's habitability. Data from the Juno mission will be used to plan that mission.
