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See 1st new images of Ganymede in over 20 years - EarthSky
Jun 11, 2021 57 secs

The last time we saw Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede up close was over two decades ago.

The stunning images reveal Ganymede’s icy surface in striking detail.

Juno flew past Ganymede on Monday, June 7, at 1:35 p.m.

The images provide our first good glimpse of this mysterious world in over two decades.

The conditions in which we collected the dark side image of Ganymede were ideal for a low-light camera like our Stellar Reference Unit.

The probe also used other instruments to study Ganymede, including the Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) and Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM).

Ganymede is not only Jupiter’s largest moon, it is the largest natural satellite in the entire solar system.

Like Jupiter’s other large moons Callisto and Europa, Ganymede has an icy surface and outer ice shell.

That surface features craters, unusual light and dark regions and long cracks similar to tectonic faults on Earth.

The spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, studying the giant planet’s deep atmosphere, clouds, storms, auroras and hidden interior

Bottom line: NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back the first new closeup images of Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede in over 20 years

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