Details of the crazed cracks [
http://newproducts.…] criss-crossing Europa's frozen surface [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] are apparent in this mosaic of the Galileo spacecraft's latest images [
http://newproducts.…] of Jupiter's ice-covered moon. Curious white stripes, also seen by Voyager [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], are clearly visible marking the center of the wide dark fractures. One theory suggests that "dirty geysers" erupting along the cracks deposited darker material followed by a flow of cleaner water ice which produced the stripe. The above image [
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.g…] also shows an impact crater about 18.5 miles in diameter surrounded by white ejecta (lower left) and a curving x-pattern at bottom left which suggests fractures between icy plates filled with slush frozen in place. " Is there now or was there ever liquid water [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] beneath Europa's surface [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]? " These latest results still hold out that possibility -- and so the possibility of life. Europa, along with Mars [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and Saturn's moon Titan [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is considered to be one of the few places in our Solar System, beyond [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] Earth, where primitive life forms could have developed. Galileo's close flyby of this tantalizing moon is scheduled for December [
http://newproducts.…] of this year.
Explanation
Details of the crazed cracks [
http://newproducts.…] criss-crossing Europa's frozen surface [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] are apparent in this mosaic of the Galileo spacecraft's latest images [
http://newproducts.…] of Jupiter's ice-covered moon. Curious white stripes, also seen by Voyager [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], are clearly visible marking the center of the wide dark fractures. One theory suggests that "dirty geysers" erupting along the cracks deposited darker material followed by a flow of cleaner water ice which produced the stripe. The above image [
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.g…] also shows an impact crater about 18.5 miles in diameter surrounded by white ejecta (lower left) and a curving x-pattern at bottom left which suggests fractures between icy plates filled with slush frozen in place. " Is there now or was there ever liquid water [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] beneath Europa's surface [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]? " These latest results still hold out that possibility -- and so the possibility of life. Europa, along with Mars [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and Saturn's moon Titan [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is considered to be one of the few places in our Solar System, beyond [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] Earth, where primitive life forms could have developed. Galileo's close flyby of this tantalizing moon is scheduled for December [
http://newproducts.…] of this year.
Explanation
