This graphic shows the location of water vapor detected over Europa's south pole that provides the first strong evidence of water plumes erupting off Europa's surface, in observations taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in December 2012. Hubble didn't photograph plumes, but spectroscopically detected auroral emissions from oxygen and hydrogen. The aurora is powered by Jupiter's magnetic field. This is only the second moon in the solar system found ejecting water vapor from the frigid surface. The image of Europa is derived from a global surface map generated from combined NASA Voyager and Galileo space probe observations.
Credits
Illustration Credit: NASA, ESA, and L. Roth (Southwest Research Institute and University of Cologne, Germany)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Europa |
| Object Description | Jovian Moon |
| Distance | The mean radius of Europa's orbit about Jupiter is 670,900 kilometers (416,900 miles). |
| Dimensions | Neptune has a mean diameter of 3,122 kilometers (1,940 miles). |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created from HST data from proposal : J. Saur (University of Cologne, Germany), L. Roth (Southwest Research Institute/University of Cologne, Germany), P. Feldman and D. Strobel (JHU), K. Retherford (Southwest Research Institute), M. McGrath (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), and F. Nimmo (University of California, Santa Cruz). |
| Instrument | HST>STIS |
| Exposure Dates | November and December, 2012 |
| Filters | Grating: G140L |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
