The highest-resolution photo ever taken by NASA’s Juno mission of specific parts of Jupiter’s moon Europa reveals a close-up view of a mysterious region of the moon’s heavily fractured icy crust. The image covers about 93 miles (150 kilometers) by 125 miles (200 kilometers) of Europa’s surface, revealing an area criss-crossed by a network of fine ridges and double ridges (pairs of long, parallel lines marking raised features in the ice).
Near the top right corner of the image, as well as to the right and below center, there are dark spots that are likely related to something erupting to the surface from below. Below center and to the right is a surface feature that resembles a musical quarter note, measuring 42 miles (67 kilometers) north-south and 23 miles (37 kilometers) east-west. The white dots in the image are signatures of penetrating high-energy particles from the strong radiation environment around the Moon.
Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) the stellar camera used to orient the spacecraft acquired the black-and-white image during the probe’s flyby of Europa on Sept. 29, 2022, at a distance of about 256 miles (412 kilometers). With a resolution that ranges from 840 to 1,115 feet (256 to 340 meters) per pixel, the image was taken as Juno whizzed by at about 15 miles per second (24 kilometers per second) over a portion of the surface that was nighttime. dimly lit by the “Jupiter glow” – sunlight reflecting off Jupiter’s cloud tops.
Europa’s most fascinating geological formations
Designed for low-light conditions, the SRU has also proven to be a valuable scientific tool, discovering shallow lightning in Jupiter’s atmosphere, imaging Jupiter’s mysterious ring system, and now providing views of some of Europa’s most fascinating geological formations. This image unlocks an incredible level of detail in an area that has not previously been imaged at such resolution and under such revealing lighting conditions,” said Heidi Becker, co-principal investigator at SRU. “The team’s use of the Star Camera for science is a great example of Juno’s pioneering capabilities. These features are so interesting. Understanding how they formed and how they relate to European history informs us about the internal and external processes shaping the ice crust.
It won’t just be Juno’s SRU scientists who will be busy analyzing the data in the coming weeks. During Juno’s 45th orbit around Jupiter, all of the spacecraft’s science instruments collected data both during the Europa flyby and again when Juno flew past Jupiter’s poles 7.5 hours later. “Juno began to focus fully on Jupiter. The team is really excited to expand our investigation to include three of the four Galileo satellites and Jupiter’s rings during our extended mission,” said Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
“On this flyby of Europa, Juno has now seen close-up images of two of Jupiter’s most interesting moons, and their icy shells are very different from each other. In 2023, Io, the most volcanic body in the Solar System, will join the club.” Juno flew by Jupiter’s moon Ganymede – the largest moon in the Solar System – in June 2021. Europa is the sixth largest moon of the Solar System, with approximately 90% of the equatorial diameter of Earth’s moon. Scientists believe a salty ocean lies beneath the mile-thick ice shell, raising questions about the ocean’s potential habitability. In the early 1930s, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft arrives and attempts to answer these questions about Europa’s habitability. Data from the Juno flyby provide a preview of what this mission will reveal.
More about the mission
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for principal investigator Scott J. Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.
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