Reference image
Object guide
Europa has a smooth icy shell that likely hides a global subsurface ocean. Its surface shows a network of cracks and ridges; the ocean beneath makes Europa a prime target in the search for life. Europa is approximately 3,121.6 km across.
How to observe Europa
Europa is resolved as a separate world mainly through imaging or spacecraft data; visually, its relationship to jupiter is the key observing context.
Scientific context
Useful scale comparisons are 0.245 Earth diameters, 0.134 g surface gravity, 0.01 Earth years per orbit. These values are rounded from the catalogue measurements shown on this page.
- Radius
- 1,560.8 km
- Diameter
- 3,121.6 km
- Mass
- 4.8E+22 kg
- Mean density
- 3.014 g/cm³
- Surface gravity
- 1.314 m/s² (0.134 g)
- Orbital period
- 3.551 days (0.01 years)
- Parent body
- jupiter
0.245 Earth diameters0.134 g surface gravity0.01 Earth years per orbit
Source: NASA Science ↗
Parent planet in the solar system
The overview shows Jupiter, the parent planet. This moon is not rendered in the heliocentric model.