NASA has produced a modern image of Europa, Jupiter’s ice-covered moon. The image, using modern imaging processing techniques, shows a colorful view of the moon’s largest surface area at the highest resolution. NASA’s Galileo spacecraft captured the mosaic of colored images in the late 1990s.

Several long curving and linear fractures are present in the moon’s bright ice shell in the images. Scientists are looking for clues about Europa’s geological history and chemistry of a worldwide ocean that is believed to exist below the ice. The clues may come from the reddish-brown fractures and any other markings covering the surface.

According to solarsystem.nasa.gov, the tidal forces on Europa’s surface cause its icy outer shell to flex, likely causing the long, linear cracks seen in images of its surface.

The Galileo mission uncovered substantial evidence that a subsurface ocean with salty water is near the seafloor. The material cycling between the ocean and ice shell may yield sources of chemical energy that could sustain basic life forms.

As opposed to an earlier view, published in 2001, which shows enhanced colors, the new image more closely resembles what the human eye would see. Although space imaging enthusiasts have previously suggested their own versions of the image using publicly available data, this is the first time NASA has issued its own version using colors near their natural hues.

According to the official press release, the Galileo mission was managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.