Observers using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have taken stunning images of Jupiter’s moons Europa and Ganymede!
The highly detailed observations reveal geological features on the two frozen Jovian moons including a long, rift-like marking that cuts across the surface of Europa.
The analysis of Europa showed that its crust is primarily composed of frozen water ice with non-ice materials, including a variety of different salts that reflectance spectroscopy couldn’t identify, across its surface.
The team’s observations of Ganymede, meanwhile, revealed two types of terrain across the moon’s surface. Younger areas were marked by large amounts of water ice than much older regions, which are made up of a dark gray material that the team has not yet been able to identify.