[NTD, Beijing, October 08, 2022]Last week, NASA’s Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter captured the latest images of the snow-covered moon Europa. The surface is covered with something like a highway, arousing the curiosity and imagination of netizens.
Europa, also known as Europa, is one of Jupiter’s natural satellites, first discovered by the famous Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610.
On September 29, Juno made its first flyby of Europa. The spacecraft whizzed past Europa at an altitude of only 352 kilometers. This was also the third close exploration of Europa in history.
New high-resolution photos show that Europa is covered in what resembles a highway rather than craters, and they stretch for miles. Scientists also admit that the photo has a “severely fractured ice shell” that is puzzling.
NASA said: “This image covers an area of about 93 miles (150 kilometers) by 125 miles (200 kilometers) of Europa’s surface, showing a network of criss-crossing troughs and double ridges (a pair of long parallel lines representing the uplift features).”
“Near the top right of the image, and to the right and below the center, there are dark patches that may be related to something below erupting to the surface,” NASA added.
Comments flooded on social media, with some calling the lines a road map of the highway, others saying they were traces of something sliding on the ice, and some pointing out that they saw a five-pointed star in the photo . As for the “dark spot” NASA mentioned, some pointed out that the spot looked more like a “giant footprint.”
NASA scientists also have their own opinion, suspecting that the lines are blobs on Europa’s surface “pulled apart” and dark stuff “from below the surface” filling in the cracks.
“Many believe that cracks and ridges in the ice crust mark weak lines within the moon’s ice crust,” said Juno mission principal investigator Scott Bolton.
“These cracks are accentuated and deepened by the tidal expansion and contraction caused by Jupiter’s gravity,” Bolton said.
Juno Stellar Reference Unit principal co-investigator Heidi Becker said the image was unraveling an incredible level of detail in a region that had never been imaged at such resolution and lighting conditions. .
“These features are so fascinating. Understanding how they formed and how they relate to Europa’s history can give us insight into the internal and external processes that shaped the ice shell,” Becker said.
Europa is thought to be the most likely place outside Earth to find life, but it’s probably aquatic, not terrestrial.
Europa, the fifth-largest moon in the solar system and about 90% the size of our moon, is believed to hide a huge saltwater ocean under its icy exterior that may hold twice as much water as Earth’s oceans total.
NASA said it plans to launch the Europa Clipper in October 2024 to investigate questions about Europa’s habitability, and the latest data from Juno provides a preview of what will be revealed.
The latest photos were taken by a public outreach camera on Juno, JunoCam, which, unlike other space-based instruments typically used and controlled by professional scientists and astronomers, allows the public to view, analyze and process photos.
(Comprehensive report by reporter Li Zhaoxi/responsible editor: Lin Qing)
URL of this article: https://www.ntdtv.com/b5/2022/10/08/a103546783.html