PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109.  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

IMAGE CAPTION                          P-49434
                                       December 16, 1997
                                       Europa--Ice Rafting 

A small region of the thin, disrupted ice crust in the Conamara 
region of Jupiter's moon Europa shows the interplay of surface 
color with ice structures in this image produced with data from 
NASA's Galileo spacecraft camera.  The white and blue colors 
outline areas that have been blanketed by a fine dust of ice 
particles ejected when an explosive impact created the large 
crater Pwyll (26 kilometers or 16 miles in diameter) located some 
1,000 kilometers (about 620 miles) to the south.  Also visible 
are a few small craters of less than 500 meters or 547 yards in 
diameter that were probably formed at the same when the impact 
likely threw out large, intact, blocks of around the area.  The 
unblanketed surface has a reddish brown color that has been 
painted by mineral contaminants carried and spread by water vapor 
released from below the crust when it was disrupted. The original 
color of the icy surface was probably a deep blue seen in large 
areas elsewhere on Europa's surface.  The colors in this picture 
have been enhanced for visibility. 

North is to the top of the picture and the Sun illuminates the 
surface from the right.  The image, centered at 9 degrees 
latitude and 86.5 degrees south longitude, covers an area 
approximately 70 by 30 kilometers (44 by 19 miles), and combines 
data taken by the Galileo Solid State Imaging (CCD) system during 
three of the spacecraft's orbits through the Jovian system.  Low-
resolution color (violet, green, and infrared) data acquired in 
September 1996 were combined with medium-resolution images from 
December 1996 to produce synthetic color images.  These were then 
combined with a high-resolution mosaic of images acquired on Feb. 
20, 1997 at a resolution of 54 meters (59 yards) per picture 
element and at a range of 5,340 kilometers (3,320 miles).

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

                        #####