Scientists: No evidence of obvious changes on Europa
Europa in true color, taken by Juno September 2022.
Click for full image.
Having carefully reviewed the images produced by Juno of Europa during its close fly-by in September 2022, scientists have been unable to detect any obvious changes to its surface compared to the previous high resolution images taken by the Galileo orbiter 22 years previously.
You can read the just published paper here [pdf]. From the abstract:
Surface change detection shows no changes in 22 yr, although this is a difficult task considering differences between the JunoCam and Galileo imagers and very different viewing geometries. No active eruptions were detected.
At the same time, because of the significant differences in resolution and viewing angles from the Juno and Galileo pictures, this conclusion remains uncertain. Moreover, this new analysis confirmed earlier work using these same images that suggested many surface features are very young.
The analysis of the images also found evidence of the larger tectonic structure of the planet, as indicated by a new “bright band” found in the southern hemisphere. These bands are thought to indicate the fracture pattern caused by the crust floating and wandering over the theorized underground ocean.
All of this work is very preliminary. Neither Galileo nor Juno has provided us a detailed global survey of Europa. That will come when Europa Clipper arrives in a Jupiter orbit in 2030 that is specifically designed to make 44 close fly-bys of the moon.
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Europa in true color, taken by Juno September 2022.
Click for full image.
Having carefully reviewed the images produced by Juno of Europa during its close fly-by in September 2022, scientists have been unable to detect any obvious changes to its surface compared to the previous high resolution images taken by the Galileo orbiter 22 years previously.
You can read the just published paper here [pdf]. From the abstract:
Surface change detection shows no changes in 22 yr, although this is a difficult task considering differences between the JunoCam and Galileo imagers and very different viewing geometries. No active eruptions were detected.
At the same time, because of the significant differences in resolution and viewing angles from the Juno and Galileo pictures, this conclusion remains uncertain. Moreover, this new analysis confirmed earlier work using these same images that suggested many surface features are very young.
The analysis of the images also found evidence of the larger tectonic structure of the planet, as indicated by a new “bright band” found in the southern hemisphere. These bands are thought to indicate the fracture pattern caused by the crust floating and wandering over the theorized underground ocean.
All of this work is very preliminary. Neither Galileo nor Juno has provided us a detailed global survey of Europa. That will come when Europa Clipper arrives in a Jupiter orbit in 2030 that is specifically designed to make 44 close fly-bys of the moon.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
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