Water vapour plumes on Jupiter's moon Europa (artist's impression)
This artist's impression shows Jupiter and its moon Europa using actual Jupiter and Europa images in visible light. The Hubble ultraviolet images showing the faint emission from the water vapour plumes have been superimposed, respecting the size but not the brightness of the plumes.
Astronomers using Hubble have detected signs of water vapour being vented off this moon, creating variable plumes near its south pole — the first observational evidence of water vapour being ejected off the moon's surface.
Credit:NASA, ESA, and M. Kornmesser.
Science Credit: NASA, ESA, L. Roth (Southwest Research Institute and University of Cologne, Germany), J. Saur (University of Cologne, Germany), K. Retherford (Southwest Research Institute), D. Strobel and P. Feldman (Johns Hopkins University), M. McGrath (Marshall Space Flight Center), and F. Nimmo (University of California, Santa Cruz)
About the Image
| Id: | heic1322a |
| Type: | Artwork |
| Release date: | 12 December 2013, 17:00 |
| Related releases: | heic1322 |
| Size: | 6000 x 4000 px |
About the Object
| Name: | Europa |
| Type: | Solar System : Interplanetary Body |
| Category: | Solar System |
