europa is believed to be covered with water ice.
europa is believed to be covered with water ice.
which of jupiter’s moons is believed to be covered with water ice?
europa
section::::exploration.









































the first spacecraft to visit jupiter were "pioneer 10" in 1973, and "pioneer 11" a year later, taking low-resolution images of the four galilean moons. the "voyager 1" and "voyager 2" probes visited jupiter in 1979, discovering the volcanic activity on io and the presence of water ice on the surface of europa. the "cassini" probe to saturn flew by jupiter in 2000 and collected data on interactions of the galilean moons with jupiter's extended atmosphere. the "new horizons" spacecraft flew by jupiter in 2007 and made improved measurements of its satellites' orbital parameters.
moons of jupiter
oberon is the second largest and most massive of the uranian moons after titania, and the ninth most massive moon in the solar system. oberon's density of 1.63 g/cm³, which is higher than the typical density of saturn's satellites, indicates that it consists of roughly equal proportions of water ice and a dense non-ice component. the latter could be made of rock and carbonaceous material including heavy organic compounds. the presence of water ice is supported by spectroscopic observations, which have revealed crystalline water ice on the surface of the moon. water ice absorption bands are stronger on oberon's trailing hemisphere than on the leading hemisphere. this is the opposite of what is observed on other uranian moons, where the leading hemisphere exhibits stronger water ice signatures. the cause of this asymmetry is not known, but it may be related to impact gardening (the creation of soil via impacts) of the surface, which is stronger on the leading hemisphere. meteorite impacts tend to sputter (knock out) ice from the surface, leaving dark non-ice material behind. the dark material itself may have formed as a result of radiation processing of methane clathrates or radiation darkening of other organic compounds.
oberon (moon)