Europa
An ocean hidden beneath ice
Europa is a moon of Jupiter wrapped in ice. Long, dark lines cross its bright surface, like cracks on a frozen lake. Scientists think a large ocean of salty liquid water lies underneath its icy shell. The outside is very cold, but Jupiter’s gravity helps keep the inside warm.
This hidden ocean is exciting to researchers. Water matters to life as we know it, but we do not know whether anything lives beneath Europa’s ice. No creatures have been found there. Spacecraft study its cracks, ice, and surroundings. These clues help scientists understand a distant watery world that we cannot simply see from Earth.
Help Europa get home → Explore in the planetarium →In the planetarium you can spin this world and look at it from every side.
Artist’s impression · the surface is an illustration.
Sources and images
Celestial maps: Solar System Scope / INOVE · CC BY 4.0. Thumbnails were reduced and shaded. Artistic SVG maps were created for this project.