Arthur C. Clarke warned us away from Jupiter's moon Europa in his novel 2010: Odyssey Two, and in the movie made of it. But NASA's Juno probe went there anyway. No, it didn't land, but the probe was sent on a side journey away from Jupiter, which it had been orbiting since 2016, to take a closer look at the moons that revolve around it. Scientists are intrigued by Europa, because it may have liquid salt water underneath its frozen surface. In fact, it is the most likely place for life outside of earth in our solar system. Juno came down to 256 miles from Europa's surface to take this image.
Are those highways or just scars from cracks in the ice? The smart money is on the latter, but scientists don't yet know what caused all these interesting features on Europa's surface. Read more about Juno's trip to Europa at Gizmodo.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI)
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