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What it is : Europa , Jupiter ’s fourth - expectant moonshine .
Where it is : About 417,000 miles ( 671,000 klick ) from Jupiter and 500 million miles ( 805 million km ) from the sun .
Europa’s icy shell appears to be moving.
When it was shared : May 19 , 2024 .
Why it ’s so special : Slightly pocket-sized than Earth’smoon , Europa is more like a planet . It has a magnetic field of operations , a fragile O atmosphere and a liquified iron effect . It also has an icy shell 11 miles ( 18 kilometer ) thick that hides a piquant sea beneath .
Does that piquant ocean bubble up through the ice ? Yes , suggests a newly put out image of Europa render to Earth byNASA ’s Juno spacecraft , which has been orbitingJupitersince 2016 .
A view of Europa captured by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in 2000
Juno ’s ultra - sensitive Stellar Reference Unit musical instrument snap an image during a confining flyby on September 29 , 2022 , when the spacecraft passed within just 220 miles ( 355 km ) of Europa ’s chicken feed shell . It was one of the first high - resolution epitome of Europa since NASA ’s Galileo spacecraft overstep by in 2000 .
Related : NASA reveals ' glass - smooth lake of cool lava ' on aerofoil of Jupiter ’s moon Io
The black and white paradigm — taken of Europa ’s nighttime side when it was light up only with light reflected by Jupiter — designate a feature nicknamed " the Platypus " ( in a sensationalistic box seat ) . measure out about 23 mile by 42 air mile ( 37 km by 67 km ) , this " bedlam terrain " curb hammock , ridge , crank block and dark reddish - brown cloth . It ’s the youngest feature in the area imaged — and , scientists mistrust , it ’s where Europa ’s ice shell allow pockets of brine from the moon ’s subterranean ocean to pool .
About 31 mile ( 50 kilometer ) above " The Platypus " is a double ridgepole running east - west ( blue box ) with potential stains around it . It ’s think these dirt could be deposit from plumes of seawater rising up to the surface from Europa ’s ocean .
— place exposure of the calendar week : An eerie facial expression at Io , the most volcanic world in the solar system
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Juno ’s close flyby also saw fourvisible - lighter images of Europataken by JunoCam , which show that the wintry crusts at the due north and south pole of the lunation are not where they once were . This paint a picture that Europa ’s icy cuticle is free - floating , moving about the lunar month .
Juno ’s mission will stop in 2025 , but two more mission are bond for Europa . NASA’sEuropa Clipperwill launch later this year and arrive in 2030 . Meanwhile , theEuropean Space Agency ’s slowerJuice(Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer ) establish in 2023 and will get in 2031 to tour three of Jupiter ’s moonshine : Ganymede , Callisto and Europa .
