First Proof Jupiter’s possible watery moon

Europa is one of the weirdest moons in our solar system. For decades, this Jupiter moon has sat undisturbed and quite out of sight for the public. And that’s for a good reason — it’s about 90 percent the size of Earth’s Moon and makes up just 1 of Jupiter’s 79 total moons.

At first glance, it’s not too attractive either. At least in terms of its beige coloring, valleys, and lack of any significant craters. Or, well, that’s what we thought for years. Although Europa had been known for hundreds of years, there really hadn’t been any popular opinions or well-known aspects until the late-1900s.

Suddenly, books, movies, art, and much more painted an exciting picture of Europa — literally. The 1970s launches of Voyagers 1 and 2 brought some great details of Europa back to the NASA scientists on Earth. Primarily focusing on Jupiter, these space crafts collected information on all four significant Galilean moons, including Europa. The smallest of the four, Europa, was and continues to be weird. Nevertheless, from the results of the Voyager flybys, NASA learned a few things.