Ganymede Enhanced
Explanation:
What does the largest moon in the Solar System look like?
Ganymede,
larger than even
Mercury and
Pluto,
has a surface speckled with bright young craters overlying a mixture of
older, darker, more cratered
terrain laced with
grooves and ridges.
Like Earth's Moon,
Ganymede keeps the same face towards its central planet, in this case Jupiter.
In this historic and
detailed image mosaic taken by the
Galileo
spacecraft
that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003,
the colors of this planet-sized moon have been enhanced to
increase surface contrasts.
The violet shades extending from the top and bottom are likely due
to frost particles in
Ganymede's polar regions.
Possible future missions to Jupiter are being proposed that can search
Europa and
Ganymede for deep oceans that may harbor elements thought
important for
supporting life.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
