Click the tartan to view its entry in The Scottish Registers of Tartans which includes registration details, restrictions, and registrant information.
Unregistered tartans may link to one of the web's online design environments for similar information.
For any questions about reproduction of designs or weaving of these tartans, please contact the registrant directly or via this website.
Jupiter's Moons Week
"I have observed four stars, neither fixed nor known before, which revolve around Jupiter as does Venus and Mercury around the Sun."
~ Galileo Galilei. Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger), 1610
On January 7, 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter using a homemade telescope. Initially, he observed three points of light near Jupiter, which he initially thought were stars. Over the next few nights, he noticed these points of light moving in a regular pattern and not in the expected direction according to the prevailing understanding of the time. By January 11, he observed a fourth point of light, and after a week of continuous observation, he concluded that these were not stars but moons orbiting Jupiter. These moons are now known as the Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. This tartan was designed to celebrate the development, launch, operations and science of the Europa Clipper project, to study the icy moon of Jupiter, and to honour the many hundreds of people around the world who are part of the project team. Europa Clipper’s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below the icy surface which could support life. The Europa Clipper mission is designed to understand the nature of Europa’s ice shell and the ocean beneath it, along with its composition and geology. Colours are based on imagery from Jupiter and its moon Europa. They are intended to represent the ice and dust on the surface of Europa, the various colours of the planet Jupiter, and the depths of interplanetary space! 🖤 💙 🧡 🤎 🤍 🪐 🚀 🔭
The Europa Clipper Mission, led by NASA, is an ambitious project designed to explore Jupiter's moon Europa, one of the most promising places in our solar system for finding conditions suitable for life. Scheduled for launch in 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the spacecraft is expected to reach Europa by 2030.
Europa is of particular interest because its surface of ice is believed to cover a vast subsurface ocean, potentially containing twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans combined. The mission aims to study Europa's ice shell, subsurface ocean, geology, and the potential habitability of its environment.
Key Goals of the Mission
Characterize the Ice Shell and Ocean: Investigate the thickness of the ice, the depth and salinity of the ocean beneath it, and the dynamic processes that may allow exchange between the surface and subsurface.
Assess Geological Activity: Study surface features, such as ridges and cracks, to understand Europa’s geological history and potential for tectonic or volcanic activity.
Search for Habitability Indicators: Examine the moon’s surface and near-subsurface for chemical compounds like salts and organics that may indicate the presence of life-sustaining conditions.
Analyze Surface Composition: Map the moon’s composition to identify materials ejected from the interior.
Europa Clipper is equipped with a suite of advanced instruments to achieve its objectives:
Ice-penetrating radar to measure the ice shell's thickness.
Infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers to identify surface materials.
Magnetometer to measure Europa's magnetic field and infer the ocean's properties.
Cameras for high-resolution imaging of Europa's surface.
Mass spectrometer to detect potential plumes and analyze their composition.
Key Features
The spacecraft will not orbit Europa directly but will perform over 50 close flybys while orbiting Jupiter. This strategy minimizes Europa's harsh radiation environment, prolonging the mission’s life and enabling repeated data collection.
Europa Clipper will provide foundational knowledge for future missions, including potential landers, to search for direct evidence of life.
For more about this mission, click the artist's conception of a view from Europa!