Astrobiology Biosignature Recon of Europa: Map of Water At Manannán Crater

Colors were mapped onto infrared data from NASA’s Galileo mission in this image revealing locations around a crater on the Jovian moon Europa called Manannán where there are signatures of water. Manannán was created when a comet or asteroid hit the surface of Europa. The blue colors in this image indicate higher concentrations of water ice in the material thrown out of the crater during impact.

Yellow and red show the locations of hydrates, chemically altered forms of water that can bind to other elements. The background black-and-white image was taken by the Galileo solid-state imaging camera, which took images in visible light.

The colors correspond to wavelengths of light that are not detectable to the human eye but were observed by Galileo’s near-infrared mapping spectrometer.

Galileo orbited Jupiter for almost eight years, concluding its mission in 2003

Map of Water Signatures At Manannán Crater Larger image — NASA

Astrobiology