JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Image

Crisscrossing Bands

May 1, 2020
Context Image
Larger image for PIA23872
The surface of Jupiter's moon Europa features a widely varied landscape, including ridges, bands, small rounded domes and disrupted spaces that geologists called chaos terrain.
Context Image
Larger image for PIA23872

The surface of Jupiter's moon Europa features a widely varied landscape, including ridges, bands, small rounded domes and disrupted spaces that geologists called "chaos terrain." This newly reprocessed image, along with two others along the same longitude (see PIA23871 and PIA23873), were taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft on Sept. 26, 1998, and reveal details of diverse surface features on Europa.

All three images were captured along the same longitude of Europa as Galileo flew by on Sept. 26, 1998, in the spacecraft's 17th orbit of Jupiter (orbit E17). It was the eighth of Galileo's 11 targeted flybys of Europa. High-resolution images were taken through a clear filter in grayscale (black and white). Using lower-resolution, color images of the same region from a different flyby (orbit E14), technicians recently mapped color onto the higher-resolution images.

(Orbit E14 resulted in this global view of Europa (see PIA19048). The color information gathered on that flyby was used to reprocess these new images.)

Enhanced-color images like these allow scientists to highlight geologic features with different colors, which are related to chemical compositions of the surface. Areas that appear light blue or white are made up of relatively pure water ice, and reddish areas have more non-ice materials.

This image shows a region of Europa's surface covered with ridges and bands, with a few small disrupted chaos regions. The long, linear ridges and bands that crisscross Europa's surface are thought to be related to the response of Europa's icy surface crust as it is stretched and pulled by Jupiter's strong gravity. Ridges, a common surface feature type, may form when a crack in the surface opens and closes repeatedly, building up a feature that's typically a few hundred yards tall, a few miles wide and that can stretch horizontally for thousands of miles.

In contrast, bands are locations where a crack appears to have continued pulling apart horizontally, producing large, wide, relatively flat features. This image shows both ridges and bands, which interact with each other in complex ways that are somewhat similar to tectonic activity on the Earth.

The image resolution is 244 yards (223 meters) per pixel, and this image depicts an area about 180 miles (285 kilometers) across.

This image was produced by Mario Valenti at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif.

Figure 1 indicates the locations on Europa depicted in the newly processed images, with the cross-cutting band noted by the middle marker. This image is centered approximately at -10.5 degrees south latitude, and 135.0 degrees east positive longitude.

The Galileo mission was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Additional information about Galileo and its discoveries is available on the Galileo mission home page at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galileo/.

More information about Europa and Europa Clipper is available at europa.nasa.gov.

Download JPG
Download TIFF
Mission
Target
  • Europa
Spacecraft
  • Galileo Orbiter
Instrument
  • Imaging Science Subsystem
Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

Keep Exploring

Three Views of Europa

Chaos Transition

Chaos Near Agenor Linea

Galileo in High Bay 1

Europa's Plumes Located near 'Warm Spot' on Europa

Hubble Sees Recurring Plume Erupting From Europa

Highest-resolution Europa Image & Mosaic from Galileo

Europa's Varied Surface Features

Map of Io's Volcanic Heat Flow

Europa's Stunning Surface

Related Topic

News .

My Favorite Martian Image: ‘Enchanted’ Rocks at Jezero Crater

News .

Swarm of Tiny Swimming Robots Could Look for Life on Distant Worlds

News .

Help NASA Scientists Find Clouds on Mars

Event June 30, 2022 .

JPL & the Space Age: The Pathfinders

News .

NASA’s Curiosity Takes Inventory of Key Life Ingredient on Mars

News .

NASA to Discuss Psyche Asteroid Mission

News .

NASA Mars Orbiter Releasing One of Its Last Rainbow-Colored Maps

News .

NASA’s Curiosity Captures Stunning Views of a Changing Mars Landscape

News .

NASA’s InSight Gets a Few Extra Weeks of Mars Science

News .

NASA, Partner Establish New Research Group for Mars Sample Return Program

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono