Europa seems in 'embryonic' state in new image

 Washington: A new "remastered" image of Jupiter's moon Europa has made it look like the beginning of life itself - an embryo.

NASA's Galileo spacecraft took the stunning pictures of the Jovian moon in 1995 and 1998.

NASA researchers decided to combine photos that were taken through near-infrared, green and violet filters to create the new image.

The team then "remastered" the new image into "a realistic colour view of the surface that approximates how Europa would appear to the human eye".

According to the US space agency, "colour variations across the surface are associated with differences in geologic feature type and location".

"For example, areas that appear blue or white contain relatively pure water ice, while reddish and brownish areas include non-ice components in higher concentrations," it added.

"The polar regions, visible at the left and right of this view, are noticeably bluer than the more equatorial latitudes, which look more white. This colour variation is thought to be due to differences in ice grain size in the two locations," the statement read.