Jupiter's Moon Europa Poster - Version A

Version A of the Europa installment of NASA's solar system poster series.

The posters are best printed on 11x17 paper. Several download options are available in the column on the right.

• There are two iterations of this poster: Version A (this one) and Version B.
• Download the full Solar System and Beyond poster set.

About the image: Jupiter's icy moon Europa looms large in this color view, made from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

On the Back

Beneath the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa is perhaps the most promising place to look for present-day environments suitable for life.

Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa’s water-ice surface is crisscrossed by long, linear fractures. Like our planet, Europa is thought to have an iron core, a rocky mantle and an ocean of salty water. Unlike Earth, however, Europa’s ocean lies below a shell of ice probably 10 to 15 miles (15 to 25 kilometers) thick and has an estimated depth of 40 to 100 miles (60 to 150 kilometers).