Europa's Northern Plains, Triple bands, cycloidial ridges, ect. Options

[Exploitcorporati...]

During the E15 encounter, Galileo accquired the first segments of two massive hemispheric transects. 15ESREGMAP01, on the antijovian side, covers a large area within the famous G1 false color image showing the intersection of Minos and Udaeus Lineae. Presented here is an approximate natural color version along with a comparison with NASA's beautiful and oft-reproduced false color release from 1998:

15ESREGMAP01 greyscale

Color version

3-panel comparison

Cropped scenes of several features are in the wallpapers directory of the FTP site

[Exploitcorporati...]

The area to the north of the E15 mosaic was imaged in January 1999 during the E19 encounter. Also covered by G1 color data, this observation included a second, slightly closer look for stereo imaging as well.

19ESNORLAT01 greyscale

19ESNORPLN01 greyscale

3-panel color comparison

[JRehling]

During the E15 encounter, Galileo accquired the first segments of two massive hemispheric transects. 15ESREGMAP01, on the antijovian side, covers a large area within the famous G1 false color image showing the intersection of Minos and Udaeus Lineae. Presented here is an approximate natural color version along with a comparison with NASA's beautiful and oft-reproduced false color release from 1998:

Phenomenal imagery. I found my favorite 1024x768 patch to use as a screensaver.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

OMG - those mosaics are incredible !!!

[dilo]

Stunning images, Orion!
Can you tell us which bands/filters you used in the color panels?

[Exploitcorporati...]

Stunning images, Orion!
Can you tell us which bands/filters you used in the color panels?

The color images used for the "natural" mosaics in the first two posts were IR-7560 (assigned the 649nm red filter's rough values of r255/g0/b0), the 559nm green (r127/g255/b0), and the 404nm violet (r6/g0/b255). The composited image was visually tweaked to produce an approximation of the muddy reddish browns, salmon hues, and yellows shown in LPL/ASU products of the same region. The cropped color image was cut into 12 sections, rendered at 20% opacity, and visually aligned in peices over the mosaic, with overlapping seams carefully blended. Saturation was then increased, and the layered image flattened. The false color version of the E15 mosaic is the NASA/JPL release. The false color version of the E19 mosaic is the original 1996 G1 false color image, rendered transparent and positioned over the mosaic with the same technique described above.
I am probably one of the less experienced members of this community(3 weeks now!) when it comes to color processing, and the accuracy of these color products are clearly debatable. I typically lack confidence in the quality of my work. Neverless, I hope that the results are interesting and enjoyable. I have been flabbergasted by the stuff you guys are making over in the MER area, and it has been a major encouragement to work on the Galileo images.

[tedstryk]

The color images used for the "natural" mosaics in the first two posts were IR-7560 (assigned the 649nm red filter's rough values of r255/g0/b0), the 559nm green (r127/g255/b0), and the 404nm violet (r6/g0/b255). The composited image was visually tweaked to produce an approximation of the muddy reddish browns, salmon hues, and yellows shown in LPL/ASU products of the same region. The cropped color image was cut into 12 sections, rendered at 20% opacity, and visually aligned in peices over the mosaic, with overlapping seams carefully blended. Saturation was then increased, and the layed image flattened. The false color version of the E15 mosaic is the NASA/JPL release. The false color version of the E19 mosaic is the original 1996 G1 false color image, rendered transparent and positioned over the mosaic with the same technique described above.
I am probably one of the less experienced members of this community(3 weeks now!) when it comes to color processing, and the accuracy of these color products are clearly debatable. I typically lack confidence in the quality of my work. Neverless, I hope that the results are interesting and enjoyable. I have been flabbergasted by the stuff you guys are making over in the MER area, and it has been a major encouragement to work on the Galileo images.

The first time or two it the images looked a bit monochrome. But as of late, you are getting really good at color.

[Exploitcorporati...]

Triple bands, labled for their appearance at low resolutions as a dark line with a central bright stripe, were seen in the G1 global mosaic to have diffuse edges, suggestive of a possible spray of fine material. Seen in greater detail during E6 at Conamara, they were instead resolved as a mass of closely spaced ridges. Belus Linea, the prominent triple band shrouded in ejecta from Mannann'an, was imaged on E14 at an apparent interruption in its otherwise continuous path.

14ESTRPBND01

context

[dilo]

Thanks for explainations on your technique, Orion... IMHO, your work quality appear excellent. Europa surface still really intriguing and I hope you will continue posting more mosaics.
About last image you posted, in addition to the interesting feature you highlighted, there is a ambiguous circular structure in the upper left... it seems a depressed stuff (recent crater or a collapsed region)... some explaination?

[Exploitcorporati...]

there is a ambiguous circular structure in the upper left... it seems a depressed stuff (recent crater or a collapsed region)... some explaination?

Right-sorry I forgot to include that. That's Niamh, a 5km-diameter impact crater.

[dilo]

Right-sorry I forgot to include that. That's Niamh, a 5km-diameter impact crater.

Thanks.
Based on inside appearance, must be a crater... but must be very recent compared to the bands, even if no radial features are visible around it. Moreover, the layers dug by it appear very uniform, in spite to surface structures (depth is close to 2Km, apparently).
This disappoint me, especially if we trust to tidal bands generaton model.

[Decepticon]

I Know I'm going out a limb here but my theory on these bands/faults could be mirror images of whats underneath the ice crust.

I see Europa subsurface a very complex and more intensive earth type fault lines.

Basically upwelling form these faults. The Lava lamp theory looks very promising seeing all these spots that just rip open from underneath.

Sometimes I worry that Europa may actually may be to hot internally to support life.

Sorry for the crude theory of mine.





I would like to see what everyone thinks about it aways!

[Exploitcorporati...]

It is exciting to think of Europa as a world with two surfaces... a seafloor and the visible top of the icy shell. The evidence suggests that the crust is "decoupled" from the interior based on the changing orientations of overprinted surface ridges. I'm curious as to the exact mechanism that produces the wildly braided appearance of complex ridge structures like Belus Linea... I've heard the surface at high resolution described as looking like "a ball of string". I've seen models describing the process by which the bizzare cycloidal cracks form, but I have'nt seen anything modeling the formation of ridge features at fine scales. I'm sure vexgizmo might have an idea...

[Jeff7]

I Know I'm going out a limb here but my theory on these bands/faults could be mirror images of whats underneath the ice crust.

I see Europa subsurface a very complex and more intensive earth type fault lines.

Basically upwelling form these faults. The Lava lamp theory looks very promising seeing all these spots that just rip open from underneath.

Sometimes I worry that Europa may actually may be to hot internally to support life.

Sorry for the crude theory of mine.
I would like to see what everyone thinks about it aways!

But how hot is "too hot" going to be? Remember that we have life forms living in excess of 400C at the bottom of our oceans, living off of chemicals toxic to us.

[Decepticon]

^Excellent point.