October 22, 1996
The stars above are ancient, but your chance to be here is exquisitely temporary.
The Cracked Ice Plains of Europa
Birthday · October 22, 1996
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APOD published October 22, 1996. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
What caused the cracks in this giant ice-ball? Jupiter's moon Europa has smoothest surface in the solar system and is composed mostly of cracked water-ice. In the above false-colored picture released last week by the NASA team in charge of the Galileo mission, blue hues represent ice plains divided by dirty red and brown bands of mottled terrain. As the robot Galileo spacecraft orbits Jupiter, it sends back revealing pictures of Jupiter and its large moons including Europa, Io, Ganymede, and Callisto. The region of Europa highlighted above is known as Minos Linea. The cause for many of the cracks remains unknown but may involve shifting stresses from gravity and temperature variations. The new Galileo pictures have increased evidence that liquid oceans may indeed exist under these giant ice-sheets, a place possibly ripe for the development of life.