Just as George Lucas re-released his classic Star Wars trilogy in digitally remastered versions for a new audience, NASA has re-released a remastered view of one of their own space classics. <\/p>\n
Since its original publication in 2001, the famous Galileo spacecraft observation of the cracked surface of the frozen Jupiter moon Europa has graced countless book covers and ignited the worlds imagination as to what lies inside the small worlds sub-surface ocean. <\/p>\n
ANALYSIS: NASA Calls for Europa Mission Ideas <\/p>\n
But the original observation, which is actually a mosaic of separate observations captured by the NASA spacecraft in the late 1990s, had its colors strongly enhanced to expose surface details that wouldnt otherwise be seen. Now, using modern processing techniques, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has recreated the alien landscape, closely approximating how the human eye would see it. <\/p>\n
See the remastered version and compare it with NASA's original Galileo observations. <\/p>\n
Space imaging enthusiasts have produced their own versions of the view using the publicly available data, but NASA has not previously issued its own rendition using near-natural color, writes the JPL news release. <\/p>\n
NEWS: Possible Europa Tectonics Could be Boon for Alien Life <\/p>\n
Europas trademark reddish cracks break up the predominantly water ice crust. As can be seen in this new view of Europa, the moons north and south poles (on the left and right) are significantly bluer than the equatorial regions. Planetary scientists believe that this difference in hue is down to varying ice crystal sizes. <\/p>\n
The ruddy regions are stained with chemicals that scientists are keen to understand as they represent a tectonic history of the moon where the sub-surface ocean is interacting with the icy crusts surface. A better understanding of the icy dynamics could shed new light on the habitable potential of Europa and moons like it. <\/p>\n
ANALYSIS: Cubesats May Hitchhike on Mission to Europa <\/p>\n
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NASA Releases 'Remastered' View of Enigmatic Europa<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just as George Lucas re-released his classic Star Wars trilogy in digitally remastered versions for a new audience, NASA has re-released a remastered view of one of their own space classics. Since its original publication in 2001, the famous Galileo spacecraft observation of the cracked surface of the frozen Jupiter moon Europa has graced countless book covers and ignited the worlds imagination as to what lies inside the small worlds sub-surface ocean. ANALYSIS: NASA Calls for Europa Mission Ideas But the original observation, which is actually a mosaic of separate observations captured by the NASA spacecraft in the late 1990s, had its colors strongly enhanced to expose surface details that wouldnt otherwise be seen Continue reading