NASA Juno spacecraft has flew over the surface of Jupiter satellite Europa "Europa" and sent back historical images.
September 29, 2022 Photographed by NASA's Juno Spacecraft
September 29, 2022 Flying over this satellite , the sixth-most closest to Jupiter . In the process of the Juneau spacecraft being closest to this big satellite, it was less than 219 miles from the surface of Jupiter. As the Juno spacecraft flew past the icy satellite, it took several pictures, marking the third time in history that a spacecraft has entered within 310 miles of its surface, while also providing the closest observation of Jupiter's fourth largest satellite since NASA's Galileo flew over at an altitude of 218 miles on January 3, 2000.
NASA explained on its Jet Propulsion Laboratory website that Europa is the sixth largest satellite in the solar system and is only smaller than the moon, the Earth's satellite. However, Europa is very different from Earth's satellites, because researchers believe that under the thick ice layer of Europa, there may be an Aral Sea , which stretches many miles below its surface. Furthermore, researchers suspect that this saltwater ocean beneath the surface of Europa may have the right conditions to support life.
The first photo of the Juno flying over Europa on September 29.
Juno's flight over Europa Europa is considered a comprehensive success by the Space Agency, and when the spacecraft flew past Europa at a speed of 14.7 miles per second, the Europa image it collected was called by NASA's highest resolution image to date, with each pixel representing 0.6 miles of land. In addition, these images and the obtained data will provide researchers with data on Europa's shell structure, interior, surface composition and ionosphere , as well as the relationship between the satellite and Jupiter's magnetosphere.
Researchers will compare the recent images taken by Juno with images obtained twenty years ago to see if there are obvious changes in the surface characteristics of Europa. In addition, the images obtained by Juno's recent flight over Europa will allow scientists to fill and update Europa's existing geological maps, adding and replacing low-resolution images of many Europa's surfaces.
left picture is an estimate of the natural color of Euro by Galileo, and the right picture is
1997 Eurovich surface taken by Galileo in
taken by Juno.
