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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Europa's Disconnected Surface

Explanation: Jupiter's moon Europa is so exciting that the Galileo spacecraft orbiting Jupiter has now embarked on an extended mission to study it. Oceans that might exist beneath Europa 's surface are thought to be one of the best places to look for life in our Solar System . The Galileo Europa Mission has planned eight close fly-bys frozen moon. The first close encounter of this extended mission occurred last December and the next will occur in February . The above enhanced color picture shows a small region of Europa's Conamara region. The white and blue colors highlight regions covered by ice dust from the collision that created the Pwyll Crater . Disconnected islands of ice are visible that have apparently rafted to new positions.

Date January 2, 1998
Credit Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.