[2] The moon is the namesake of Europa, in Greek mythology the daughter of the Phoenician king of Tyre. Like all the Galilean satellites, Europa is named after a lover of Zeus, the Greek counterpart of Jupiter. Europa was courted by Zeus and became the queen of Crete. [34]
Europa is the fourth largest of Jupiter’s 95 moons. It's the sixth-closest moon to the planet. Europa may be one of the most promising places in our solar system to find present-day environments suitable for some form of life beyond Earth.
Europa is one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, along with Io, Ganymede and Callisto. Astronomer Galileo Galilei gets the credit for discovering these Galilean moons, among the largest in the...
Europa, the smallest and second nearest of the four large moons (Galilean satellites) discovered around Jupiter by the Italian astronomer Galileo in 1610. It was probably also discovered independently that same year by the German astronomer Simon Marius, who named it after Europa of Greek mythology.
Jupiter’s icy moon Europa may be the most promising place in the solar system to find present-day environments suitable for life beyond Earth.