Pasiphae Linea
What Pasiphae Linea is
Pasiphae Linea is a linea — a long, dark or bright marking — on Europa, 1,306 km across, centred at 41.1° N, 8.1° W. It is the 36th largest named feature on Europa and the 28th largest of its class there.
Where the name comes from
Daughter-in-law of Europa, wife of King Minos (Europaâs son by Zeus), mother of the Minotaur. The International Astronomical Union approved the name in 2023, under the theme it applies to every linea on Europa. Of the 49 features of this class catalogued on Europa, the naming categories run Greek (38), Celtic (6), England (3), France (1).
What it would take to settle Pasiphae Linea
Europa scores 60.9 as a world. That number is the same for every square metre of it — but sunlight, water, radiation and the ground under your feet are not. This is the same question asked at 41.1° N, 8.1° W.
What this spot has going for it is water — same as everywhere else on this world. What works against it is temperature — about -161 °C mean at this latitude.
Computed from Pasiphae Linea's catalogued latitude, longitude and feature class — 84% of the model's weight had a basis here, and 2 axes were dropped as not applicable to Europa (earth link, known ground). Gravity, pressure, delta-v and distance from the Sun are the same everywhere on Europa and are already counted in the world's own index, not again here.
What this cannot see: elevation. Slope, local shadowing and the polar “peaks of eternal light” — ridge tops near the poles of a barely tilted world that catch sun almost continuously while a crater floor kilometres away never does — need a terrain model this does not have. Where a real mission targets a pole, that is usually why.
What is next to it
The largest linea features on Europa
All 49 lineae on Europa — mapped together, with the naming theme and the size distribution.