EGU23-2468
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-2468
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

High resolution imagery of Europa’s Surface by Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit

Heidi Becker1, Meghan Florence1, Jonathan Lunine2, Paul Schenk3, Candice Hansen4, Martin Brennan1, Scott Bolton5, and James Alexander1
Heidi Becker et al.
  • 1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States of America (heidi.n.becker@jpl.nasa.gov)
  • 2Cornell University, Dept. of Astronomy, Ithaca, NY, USA
  • 3Lunar and Planetary Institute, USRA, Houston, TX, USA
  • 4Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA
  • 5Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA

On 29 September 2022 Juno’s low-light Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) captured a high-resolution image (256-340 m/pixel) of a 3x104 km2 region of Europa’s surface between ~0-6°N and 43.5-51°W. The broadband visible image (450-1100 nm), with the highest resolution ever for that region, was collected at a sub-spacecraft altitude of 412 km during Juno’s close flyby of the icy Jovian moon while the surface was illuminated only by Jupiter-shine (incidence angle: 48-51 degrees). Prior coverage of the area by Galileo was under high-sun conditions at 1 km resolution, leading to characterization of the region as mostly ridged plain and undifferentiated linea. The SRU image reveals a much richer and complex picture; an intricate network of cross-cutting ridges and lineated bands interrupted by an intriguing 37 km (east-west) by 67 km (north-south) chaos feature that appears to be the result of a unique, local geologic process. Low-albedo deposits flank ridges near the chaos feature and bear similarity to features previously linked to hypothesized subsurface activity [Quick & Hedman, Icarus, 2020]. We will present updates to the geologic mapping of Europa enabled by the SRU image, our study of the chaos feature’s morphology, and puzzles awaiting future high-resolution imagery from Europa Clipper or JUICE.

 

 

The JPL authors’ copyright for this abstract is held by the California Institute of Technology. Government Sponsorship acknowledged.

How to cite: Becker, H., Florence, M., Lunine, J., Schenk, P., Hansen, C., Brennan, M., Bolton, S., and Alexander, J.: High resolution imagery of Europa’s Surface by Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-2468, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-2468, 2023.