Closer than Ganymede, Europa is about 600 000 kilometers from Jupiter and has a diameter of 3 130 kilometers, slightly less than that of the Moon. But it is very different from our satellite: its surface is unusually uniform, and has practically no impact craters (the Voyagers identified only three), and is literally covered by criss-crossing bands and strips running in all directions. But what is the origin of these "scars" with a width of dozens of kilometers and a length of thousands of kilometers? One of the hypothesis considered by geologists states that Europa is still a very hot body and has an active core; the inner forces of the satellite continue to move the icy sheets of the crust, producing a real fracture grid. According to another theory, it is Jupiter's gravitational attraction that disturbs Europa's mantle, breaking up the icy sheets: thus, the fluid materials could rise to the surface, and freeze into darker bands of ice. Finally, under the liquid mantle there would be an active core of rock and metal.
Closer than Ganymede, Europa is about 600 000 kilometers from Jupiter and has a diameter of 3 130 kilometers, slightly less than that of the Moon. But it is very different from our satellite: its surface is unusually uniform, and has practically no impact craters (the Voyagers identified only three), and is literally covered by criss-crossing bands and strips running in all directions. But what is the origin of these "scars" with a width of dozens of kilometers and a length of thousands of kilometers? One of the hypothesis considered by geologists states that Europa is still a very hot body and has an active core; the inner forces of the satellite continue to move the icy sheets of the crust, producing a real fracture grid. According to another theory, it is Jupiter's gravitational attraction that disturbs Europa's mantle, breaking up the icy sheets: thus, the fluid materials could rise to the surface, and freeze into darker bands of ice. Finally, under the liquid mantle there would be an active core of rock and metal.
