Suspected Plumes of Water Vapor Erupting on Jupiter's Moon Europa (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Suspected Plumes of Water Vapor Erupting on Jupiter's Moon Europa

Caption

This composite image shows suspected plumes of water vapor erupting at the 7 o'clock position off the limb of Jupiter's moon Europa. The plumes, photographed by NASA's Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were seen in silhouette as the moon passed in front of Jupiter. Hubble's ultraviolet sensitivity allowed for the features -- rising over 100 miles (160 kilometers) above Europa's icy surface -- to be discerned. The water is believed to come from a subsurface ocean on Europa. The Hubble data were taken on Jan. 26, 2014. The image of Europa, superimposed on the Hubble data, is assembled from data from the Galileo and Voyager missions.

Credit

Credits: NASA/ESA/W. Sparks (STScI)/USGS Astrogeology Science Center

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