Source: NASA/Lunar and Planetary Institute/Paul Schenk
Published: July 9, 2017

This animation showing a flyover of Europa was created using stereo imaging data obtained by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. This unnamed region of Europa has some of the highest relief anywhere on the icy moon - approximately half a mile (1 kilometer) of relief exists between the lowest to highest elevations seen here. The flight begins over ridged plains cut by double ridges and small lenticulae (the Latin term for freckles) 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 kilometers) wide, which may be sites of upwelling material from deeper within the ice shell.

An area of disrupted chaos terrains is seen near the end of the flight, where Europa's thick outer icy shell has been severely disrupted by upwelling heat and partial melting of the underlying ice.

This region was imaged by Galileo at 115 feet (35 meters) per pixel resolution.

View this video on YouTube.

A still image of this feature is available from NASA's Planetary Photojournal.

Video provided courtesy of Dr. Paul Schenk.