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APOD

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 Rotating

Explanation: Evidence has been mounting that beneath the vast planes of ice that cover Europa lies water -- liquid oceans that might be home to alien life . The smallest of Jupiter 's Galilean Moons (which include Io , Ganymede , and Callisto ), Europa's deep interior is composed of mostly of silicate rock . Upon close inspection, many surface cracks stop abruptly only to continue on somewhere else -- indicating surface plates that might be sliding . The above time-lapse sequence is a composite of images taken during the Voyager spacecraft flyby of the moon twenty years ago. Not all regions are resolved in high detail. The movie shows Europa during a complete rotation, which corresponds to a complete revolution around Jupiter since Europa always keeps the same face toward the giant planet. The cause of many of the surface colors on Europa also remains a topic of research .

Date January 16, 2001
Credit Credit & Copyright: Calvin J. Hamilton , Voyager Team, NASA
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.