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JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
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IMAGE CAPTION                     P-49435
                                  December 16, 1997
                                  High-Resolution Europa Mosaic--
                                  Ridges, Plains, Mountains

This mosaic of images from NASA's Galileo spacecraft camera shows 
some of the highest resolution images of  Jupiter's moon Europa 
ever acquired.  The hundreds of ridges that cut across each other 
indicate multiple episodes of ridge formation either by volcanic 
or tectonic activity within the ice.  The images were taken on 
Nov. 6, 1997 from a range of about 3,250 kilometers (about 1,990 
miles).  North is to the top of the image and the Sun illuminates 
the scene from the left.  Also visible in the image are numerous 
isolated mountains or "massifs".  The highest of these, located 
in the upper right corner and lower center of the mosaic, are 
approximately 500 meters (1,640 feet) high.  Irregularly shaped 
areas where the ice surface appears to be lower than the 
surrounding plains (in the left-center and lower left corner of 
the mosaic) may be related to the chaotic areas of iceberg-like 
features seen in earlier Galileo images of Europa.

The mosaic, centered at 35.4 degrees north latitude and 86.8 
degrees west longitude, covers an area of 66 by 55 kilometers 
(108 by 90 miles).  The smallest distinguishable features in the 
image are about 68 meters (223 feet) across. 

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo 
mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.  JPL 
is a division of California Institute of Technology.

This image and other images and data received from Galileo are 
posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at 
URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo. Background information and 
educational context for the images can be found at URL
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo

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