Most Detailed Images Of Jupiter’s Moons Provide Interesting Insights

Photo Credit: ESO/King & Fletcher.

Telescopes on Earth have chronicled the most detailed images of Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede and the icy natural satellite Europa. These images are part of a study carried out by scientists from the University of Leicester to observe the surface of the moons. They leveraged the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope located in Chile to dive deep into the moons’ surfaces.

One might think about how are these the “most detailed” images, and they are not wrong. Compared to the images that NASA’s Juno spacecraft beamed back when it made a close flyby of the moons, the latest images might not stand a chance. But that’s alright because they aren’t contending for the Pulitzer Prize.

What Makes These Images Different?

The images were captured to conduct a cosmic fingerprint analysis of Jupiter’s most notable moons.

"The new observations recorded the amount of sunlight reflected from Europa and Ganymede's surfaces at different infrared wavelengths, producing a reflectance spectrum," the University of Leicester said. "These reflectance spectra are analyzed by developing a computer model that compares each observed spectrum to spectra of different substances that have been measured in laboratories."

This has allowed the scientists to determine the chemical compositions by matching the reflectance data to substances such as minerals and water. The study on Europa has been published in The Planetary Science Journal earlier this year. Their study on Ganymede has also been accepted for publication in the journal JGR: Planets.

Since Jupiter’s moons are far away and relatively smaller than the gigantic size of the planet, it’s difficult for Earth-based telescopes to expose their images. The researchers used the VLT's Sphere instrument to capture the moons in infrared.

New Images Reveal Interesting Details

The new images shed light on some interesting aspects. The data gathered by the teams show that Ganymede is largely made up of two kinds of terrain, where young areas feature water ice and older areas are made up of an unknown gray material.

Europa will be on NASA’s radar for its upcoming Europa Clipper mission. Astronomers believe the moon features a subsurface liquid ocean and could potentially hold signs of alien life.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has done multiple flybys of both moons and beamed back breathtaking images that show their surfaces in detail. The new Very Large Telescope observations will allow researchers to create a complete picture of what these mysterious moons hold.