Galileo Galilei first saw the moon in January 1610 ( he did not know Marius had found it ) . Simon Marius was the one who had the idea of the name ` Europa . ' Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei ( and possibly independently by Simon Marius ) , and named after a mythical Phoenician noblewoman , Europa , who was courted by Zeus and became the queen of Crete .