On September 29 , 2022 , NASA ’s Juno spacecraft made its closest flyby of Europa , coming to within 220 miles ( 355 kilometer ) of the Jovian moonshine ’s glacial surface . The closeup view of Europa let out incredible details of the Sun Myung Moon ’s helter-skelter terrain , which suggest that its frigid crust is not where it used to be . The images also showed a newly discovered characteristic that was nicknamed “ Platypus ” for its funny shape .
The findings , made possible by the JunoCam images , were of late published in thePlanetary Science Journal , while the upshot derived from the spacecraft ’s eminent - resolve image , captured by its Stellar Reference Unit ( SRU ) , were published in the journalJGR Planets .
Europa is believed to entertain a salty sea beneath its icy impertinence that holds double as much water than all of Earth ’s ocean coalesce , according toNASA . The moonshine ’s unsmooth terrain boast intricate mesh of ridges and dark stain , suggest potential feather of pee vaporisation that may be venting into outer space .
NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this image of Europa during the mission’s close flyby on 5 April 2025.Image: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Björn Jónsson (CC BY 3.0)
The bleak - and - lily-white range of Europa ’s Earth’s surface was captured by Juno ’s SRU during the near flyby , and it reveals a region crisscrossed with a internet of o.k. grooves and doubled ridges , or pairs of tenacious parallel lines , which indicates raise feature in the ice . The small whitened dots seen across the image are high - vigor , penetrating particles , which are the result of the serious radiation surroundings around the lunar month . Meanwhile , the dark stain may be linked to the bubble up of liquid state from beneath the ice ( also known as cryovolcanic feather activity ) .
At the bottom right of the image is the Platypus , which valuate 42 miles ( 67 klick ) at its wide-eyed . It features prominent ridge and dark reddish - brownish cloth , with a lumpy intercellular substance material fill up with block of ice quantify between 0.6 to 4.3 mil ( 1 to 7 kilometers ) widely .
Around the edges of Platypus , ridgeline formations tumble into the pronounced characteristic . These formations stick out the possibility that the moon ’s wintry plate may give way in region where pouch of brackish water from the subsurface sea lurk beneath the Earth’s surface . “ These sport hint at present - day aerofoil activity and the bearing of subsurface liquid body of water on Europa , ” Heidi Becker , lead co - investigator for SRU at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , said in astatement .
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI
The images captured by the seeable abstemious camera aboard the Juno spacecraft , the JunoCam , reveal show the fractures , ridge , and bands that crisscross the moon ’s airfoil in swell item . These feature on the surface of Europa have erased terrain older than about 90 million year , harmonise toNASA .
These open features patronage a hypothesis that Europa ’s out ice shell moves around and is essentially free - float . The “ true arctic wander ” theory , as its roll in the hay , claims that the icy crust at the north and south pole of Europa is not where it used to be .
“ dependable polar wander occurs if Europa ’s icy shell is decouple from its rocky interior , lead in high stress grade on the shell , which lead to predictable fracture patterns , ” Candy Hansen , a Juno atomic number 27 - investigator who leads planning for JunoCam at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson , Arizona , said in a affirmation . “ This is the first fourth dimension that these fracture patterns have been map in the southern hemisphere , suggest that true diametric wander ’s event on Europa ’s surface geology is more extensive than previously identified . ”
Image: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Björn Jónsson (CC BY 3.0)
The JunoCam images prompted a review of a notable lineament on Europa ’s aerofoil . Hansen note that Gwern , initially recall to be a 13 - mile - wide ( 21 - km - spacious ) impact volcanic crater , was actually intersecting ridgeline creating an oval shadower .
NASA ’s Juno delegacy launch in 2011 to explore Jupiter and its various moons . Europa is of special interest to scientist as they want to know whether life history could have develop on the icy moon . That ’s why the lunation is getting more space vehicle to probe its odd features . NASA’sEuropa Clipper missionis gestate to arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and study Europa ’s magnetized field to confirm whether an sea does exist beneath its frosty impudence . TheEuropean Space Agency ’s succus missionis on its way to the Jovian system of rules to research the flatulency colossus and its three ocean - bearing moons .
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