Ganymede: The Largest Moon
Explanation:
What does the largest moon in the
Solar System look
like?
Jupiter's moon
Ganymede, larger than
even
Mercury and
Pluto, has an icy surface speckled with bright young
craters overlying a mixture of older, darker, more cratered terrain laced with grooves
and ridges.
The large circular feature on the upper right, called
Galileo Regio,
is an ancient region of
unknown
origin.
Ganymede is thought to have an
ocean layer that contains
more water than Earth and
might
contain life.
Like Earth's Moon, Ganymede keeps the
same face towards
its central planet, in this case Jupiter.
The featured image was taken about 20 years ago by NASA's
Galileo probe,
which ended its mission by diving into Jupiter's atmosphere in 2003.
Currently, NASA's
Juno spacecraft orbits Jupiter
and is
studying the giant planet's internal structure, among many other attributes.
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.
