Europa
Moon of Jupiter
Facts
- Mean diameter
- 3122 km
- Mean distance from the planet
- 671,100 km
- Orbital period
- 3.53 days
- Discovery
- Galileo Galilei, 1610
Europa is the fourth largest of Jupiter's moons. Beneath its shell of ice there is thought to be an ocean of salty water holding twice as much water as Earth's ocean. It is considered one of the most promising places in the Solar System to look for environments suitable for life today.
Much of what we know comes from the observations of the Galileo mission. NASA's Europa Clipper probe set off on 14 October 2024 to study it.
Sources
- NASA/JPL Solar System Dynamics, Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters (radii from Archinal et al. 2018, Celest. Mech. 130, 22; Charon from Nimmo et al. 2017, Icarus 287, 12)
- NASA/JPL Solar System Dynamics, Planetary Satellite Mean Elements
- NASA/JPL Solar System Dynamics, Planetary Satellite Discovery Circumstances
- NASA Science, Europa