Europa's surface. Galileo spacecraft image of the surface of Europa, one of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. The icy surface crust of Europa has be

---

Europa's surface. Galileo spacecraft image of the surface of Europa, one of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. The icy surface crust of Europa has been broken up into plates which are up to 13 kilometres across. The plates have moved and collided with each other in a way that resembles the pack ice that floats on Earth's polar seas. These features suggest that at some point there was water or soft ice beneath the surface. Image taken by Galileo's Solid State Imaging camera from a distance of 5340 kilometres (km) on 20 February 1997. The image area is about 20x28km and the smallest features visible are about 54 metres across.

---

Size: 3225px × 2646px
Photo credit: © NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: astronomy, cosmology, europa, features, floe, galilean, galileo, ice, imagery, jovian, jupiter, moon, pack, planet, planetary, science, surface, tectonic