Ganymede Uruk Sulcus High Resolution Mosaic Shown in Context

A mosaic of four Galileo high-resolution images of the Uruk Sulcus region of Jupiter's moon Ganymede (Latitude 11 N, Longitude: 170 W) is shown within the context of an image of the region taken by Voyager 2 in 1979, which in turn is shown within the context of a full-disk image of Ganymede. North is to the top of the picture, and the sun illuminates the surface from the lower left, nearly overhead. The area shown is about 120 by 110 kilometers (75 by 68 miles) in extent and the smallest features that can be discerned are 74 meters (243 feet) in size in the Galileo images and 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) in the Voyager data. The higher resolution Galileo images unveil the details of parallel ridges and troughs that are principal features in the brighter regions of Ganymede. High photometric activity (large light contrast at high spatial frequencies) of this ice-rich surface was such that the Galileo camera's hardware data compressor was pushed into truncating lines. The north-south running gap between the left and right halves of the mosaic is a result of line truncation from the normal 800 samples per line to about 540. The images were taken on 27 June, 1996 Universal Time at a range of 7,448 kilometers (4,628 miles) through the clear filter of the Galileo spacecraft's imaging system.

Launched in October 1989, Galileo entered orbit around Jupiter on December 7, 1995. The spacecraft's mission is to conduct detailed studies of the giant planet, its largest moons and the Jovian magnetic environment.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.

This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web Galileo mission home page at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo.