![]() In all, the spacecraft made a total of 12 close flybys of the icy moon. The information about Europa that Galileo sent was so intriguing that the mission was extended for a two-year follow-on journey, known as the Galileo Europa mission. ![]() Galileo's primary mission included observations of each of the four Galilean moons during repeated flybys. The puzzling, fascinating surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa looms large in this view made from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. These cracks had separated, and dark, icy material appeared to have flowed into the opened gaps, suggesting that the surface had been active at some time in the past. In other words, Europa has a very smooth surface, relative to the other icy moons.Įven though the Voyagers did not pass extremely close to Europa, their images were of high enough quality that researchers noted some of the dark bands had opposite sides that matched each other extremely well, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Images from the two Voyagers revealed a surface brighter than that of Earth's moon, crisscrossed with numerous bands and ridges, and with a surprising lack of large impact craters, tall cliffs, or mountains. The spacecraft snapped a full global image of Europa from a distance of about 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers).Ī few months later, Voyager 2 had its closest encounter with Europa on July 9, 1979. Voyager 1's closest approach to Jupiter occurred on March 4, 1979. This picture of Europa was taken on March 4, 1979, from a distance of about 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers) by NASA's Voyager 1. ![]()
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