British scientists have released the most detailed images of the icy surfaces of Jupiter’s two largest moons, Europa and Ganymede.
The team of planetary scientists from the University of Leicester’s School of Physics and Astronomy, led by PhD student Oliver King, used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to observe and map the surfaces of the moons.
The observatory’s latest images provide new insight into the processes affecting the chemical makeup of massive moons, as well as the geological features of the moons, such as the long fault lines that traverse Europa’s surface.
The images show a mixture of chemicals that form the icy surfaces of Jupiter’s largest moons, Europa and Ganymede, two future destinations for new missions in the giant planet system.
Interestingly, Ganymede and Europa are among the four largest moons orbiting Jupiter, known as Galilean moons.
Europa and Ganymede each belong to the group of 79 natural moons orbiting Jupiter.
