NASA Juno First Image From Flyby of Europa (Jupiter Moon)
NASA's Juno spacecraft passed very close to Jupiter's icy moon Europa. Juno has captured the closest image of Europa in 22 years.
This image of Europa was captured during the solar-powered spacecraft's closest approach on September 29, at a distance of about 352 km (219 mi).
At the time this image of Europa was captured, Juno was racing behind Europa with a relative velocity of about 14.7 mph (23.6 km/s), or 53,000 mph (85,000 km/h).
This segment of the first image of Europa captured during this flyby by the spacecraft's JunoCam zooms in on a portion of Europa's surface north of the equator.
Features of rugged terrain can be easily seen due to the increased contrast between light and shadow seen along the Terminator.
This image reveals surface features in a region called Envon Regio near the equator of Jupiter's moon Europa.
Researchers estimate that beneath a mile-thick ice shell on Europa lies a salty ocean that contains more water than Earth's oceans.
Signs of oceans are raising questions about possible conditions capable of supporting life beneath Europa's surface by scientists.
Europa is the sixth largest moon (satellite) in our solar system, which is slightly smaller than Earth's moon.
Europa is less in diameter than Earth, and Europa probably has twice the amount of water than all of Earth's oceans.
This is only the third close pass in history below an altitude of 500 km (310 mi) and the closest look at Europa by any spacecraft since 3 January 2000.
The Europa Clipper mission is expected to be launched by NASA in 2024 to study Europa. The spacecraft will study Europa through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter.
Europa Clipper will study Europa's atmosphere, surface and interior. The main science goal will be to determine whether there are places beneath Europa's surface that could support life.
Along with this additional data about Europa's geology, Juno's observations will benefit future missions to the Jovian moon, including NASA's Europa Clipper.