NASA’s Jupiter-exploring Juno spacecraft has captured its most detailed image of the ice-covered, ocean-bearing moon, Europa – making it one of the likeliest places in the solar system to host extra-terrestrial life.
ANU astrophysicist and cosmologist Dr Brad Tucker says the image was taken just 300 kilometres from the surface of the moon, closer than the International Space Station to Earth.
“So this is a fairly close shave, they saw details of some of the cracks in the ice sheets,” he told Sky News Australia.
“They also saw some quite interesting darker planes in the ice sheets.”
Dr Tucker said this may be indicative of a “sub-ice lake” like those found in Antarctica.
“We think this giant ice moon has oceans underneath and that some of these oceans are some of these features,” he said.
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