Europa
From Gwn
| Europa | |
| |
| Discovered: | 1610 CE |
| Named After: | Named after the Greek Princess |
| Relative Size: | .015 Earths |
| Satellites: | Satellite of Jupiter |
Europa is a moon of the planet Jupiter. It is the sixth nearest moon to Jupiter, and the fourth largest of Jupiter's moons. It was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei (and independently by Simon Marius shortly thereafter) and is the smallest of the four Galilean moons named in Galileo's honor. Due to ocean beneath its icy surface, Europa hosts primitive extraterrestrial life in the form bacteria.
Europa is somewhat similar in bulk composition to the terrestrial planets, being primarily composed of silicate rock. It has an outer layer of water measured to be around 50 km thick (some, as frozen ice upper crust; some, as liquid ocean underneath the ice). Europa generates an induced magnetic field by interacting with Jupiter's field. Europa also contains a metallic iron core.
History
Early Water Mines
Notable Places
Meaning of the Name
Europa is named after Europa, daughter of Agenor, king of the Phoenician city of Tyre, now in Lebanon, and sister of Cadmus, founder of Thebes, Greece. Europa (Greek Ευρώπη) was a Phoenician woman in Greek mythology, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The story was a Cretan story, as Kerenyi points out; "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa." The name Europa occurs in the list of daughters of primordial Oceanus and Tethys, and the daughter of the earth-giant Tityas and mother of Euphemus by Poseidon, was also named Europa.
