Europa's Surface

Advanced analysis of NASA's Galileo spacecraft data reveals ammonia-bearing compounds on Jupiter's moon Europa. The compounds were detected near dark, crisscrossing bands on Europa's icy surface, which could indicate cryo-volcanic processes.

A composite image shows the locations of the ammonia-bearing compounds, with red pixels marking the detections and purple pixels indicating no detections. The data was captured by Galileo's Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument during its 11th orbit of Jupiter in 1997.

The discovery provides new insights into Europa's subsurface ocean and potential for life. The Galileo mission, launched in 1989, concluded its extended mission to the Jupiter system in 2003.

Source: NASA