NASA 's Juno spacecraft has sent back stunning new photos of Jupiter's moons Io and Europa.
Juno captured the two moons during its 39th close flyby of Jupiter on Jan. 12. At the time, the spacecraft was about 38,000 miles (61,000 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops.
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The new image, released by NASA last week, offers a stunning view of Jupiter's southern hemisphere, with the two moons visible on the right of the image. NASA also released the image in zoom mode, making the image of the two moons clearer. Io is visible on the left and Europa is on the right.
Io and Europa are two of Jupiter's many moons. Io has hundreds of volcanoes scattered across its surface.
In contrast, Europa, the smallest of the four giant Galilean moons (moons of Jupiter), has an icy surface. Scientists believe that beneath this surface lies an ocean. Previous observations have found evidence of water in Europa's south polar region, and so it is believed that there is water in the moon's subsurface ocean that seeps through cracks in the icy crust.
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The Juno spacecraft is expected to make its closest flyby of Jupiter's moon Europa in September. During that flyby, the probe will use several of its science instruments to study the moon in greater detail and take even more pictures that will allow scientists to learn more about Jupiter's mysterious moon .
According to NASA, the Juno mission will make two more close flybys in late 2023 and early 2024. The mission is expected to conclude in September 2025.
Juno's place will be taken by two other spacecraft, as part of two new missions that will focus exclusively on the study of Jupiter's moons: NASA's Europa Clipper mission and the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE).
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Scientists are very interested in Jupiter and its moons. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and has 80 known moons and probably many more. Io ,Europa ,Ganymede and Callisto are some of the best known, as they are the so-called “Galilean moons”, discovered by Galileo in 1610.
Source: www.space.com
