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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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