Astronomy Picture of the Day - Galileo's Europa

NASA ^ | 29 Mar, 2024 | Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SETI Institute, Cynthia Phillips, Marty Valenti

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: Looping through the Jovian system in the late 1990s, the Galileo spacecraft recorded stunning views of Europa and uncovered evidence that the moon's icy surface likely hides a deep, global ocean. Galileo's Europa image data has been remastered here, with improved calibrations to produce a color image approximating what the human eye might see. Europa's long curving fractures hint at the subsurface liquid water. The tidal flexing the large moon experiences in its elliptical orbit around Jupiter supplies the energy to keep the ocean liquid. But more tantalizing is the possibility that even in the absence of sunlight that process could also supply the energy to support life, making Europa one of the best places to look for life beyond Earth. The Juno spacecraft currently in Jovian orbit has also made repeated flybys of the water world, returning images along with data exploring Europa's habitability. This October will see the launch of the NASA's Europa Clipper on a voyage of exploration. The spacecraft will make nearly 50 flybys, approaching to within 25 kilometers of Europa's icy surface.

[MtnClimber]

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

[knarf]

Why are so many planets/planetoids/satllites/moons always round but the rogue asteroids are ugly masses ?

[A Navy Vet]

“All these planets are yours to share. Attempt no landings on Europa”.

[plsvn]

Why are so many planets/planetoids/satllites/moons always round but the rogue asteroids are ugly masses ?

It's really because asteroids are way too small for gravity to do its thing to pull them into a more spherical shape.

[Drew68]

Why are so many planets/planetoids/satllites/moons always round but the rogue asteroids are ugly masses ?

Mass and gravity.

Given enough mass, gravity will pull everything into a sphere. Smaller objects don't have the mass required for this to happen.

[verum ago]

Why are so many planets/planetoids/satllites/moons always round but the rogue asteroids are ugly masses ?

Because in order to be spheroidal, something must have sufficient mass to deform into that shape via gravity. And gravity tends to concentrate independent masses together into systems. So the nice round planets, moons, etc have long since been consolidated into systems and/or swept their orbits clear. The remaining scattered stuff small enough to gravitationally slung around on weird trajectories just generally isn't big enough for gravity to squash into a spheroidal shape. And those that originally were have already merged with or gone into orbit around something bigger.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

[dfwgator]

“We’ll be the Pirate Twins again....”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkj4p3rI17s

[Verginius Rufus]

From Europa, does Jupiter look like a bull?

[SkyDancer]

Looks like a brain with all the blood vessels.

[cpdiii]

Why are so many planets/planetoids/satllites/moons always round but the rogue asteroids are ugly masses ?

Gravity makes things round. If there is not enough mass this does not happen.

[Fungi]

Thomas Dolby, Europa
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=thomas+dolby+europa&mid=7B204F9E75D9C494027A7B204F9E75D9C494027A&FORM=VIRE

[Nateman]

Europa has more water than Earth. Someday it is destined to be the water supply for the Solar System.

[MtnClimber]

From Europa, does Jupiter look like a bull?

YES, Like This:

[mikey_hates_everything]

"Europa has more water than Earth."

Titan may have more methane than Earth. Did it have more dinosaurs?

[knarf]

THIS is the second time I've corrected my tagline . . . . SOME thing or one has me singled out.

I'be used this tagline for years.

[A Navy Vet]

That’s the message. Thanks.