The images of the surface of the moon were sent back by NASA.

Space 29 September 2022

There is a person by the name ofLeah Crane.

Jupiter's moon Europa

For decades, one of the best looks at Jupiter's moon.

Kevin M. Gill is an employee of NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The closest images of the moon have been taken by NASA. It flew just 352 kilometres above the moon's surface, the third time it has flown within 500 kilometres. The pictures from this swoop are very detailed.

At the time of the flyby, it only had two hours to collect data before it was too late. It took pictures of the moon's surface composition, interior structure and its interaction with Jupiter. The pictures show ridges and channels across the surface.

Candy Hansen at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona said that the science team will be looking to see if the surface features have changed over the last two decades. Existing low-resolution coverage of the area will be replaced by the images from the Juno cam.

The new data will help researchers prepare for the Europa Clipper mission, which will attempt to determine if the moon could host life beneath its icy shell. The data should show whether there are pockets of liquid water in the shell.

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