560 Kilometers Above Europa

This is the closest photograph ever taken of Europa . Last December, NASA's spacecraft Galileo swept past the Jovian moon and took photographs which were released yesterday . Speculation that life-bearing oceans exist beneath Europa's surface caused NASA to put Galileo on orbits that approach Europa . The above photograph shows new details on Europa's surface , indicating that much of Europa as strewn with bumps and hills of ice laced with long fractures. Dark circular features may be impact craters .