| Europa (1) |
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One of the four large Galilean moons of Jupiter (number II). The images returned by the Voyager spacecraft showed a bright reflective surface, criss-crossed by a complex network of dark lines. Galileo images revealed a tangled maze of both straight and curving grooves and bands. The relative absence of craters shows that the crust has been greatly modified since the satellite first formed. It is suspected that a thin outer icy crust overlies an ocean of liquid water or a mantle of rock and icy slush. Tidal forces induced by Jupiter could be sufficient to raise the temperature of the ice in Europa's mantle above freezing point. See also: Table 6. |