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Ganymede

Jan. 9, 2020
This sequence of four images from NASA's Juno spacecraft reveals the first views of the north polar region of Jupiter's moon Ganymede.

This sequence of four images from NASA's Juno spacecraft reveals the first views of the north polar region of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Juno is the first mission to directly image this part of Ganymede, which is the largest moon in the solar system, larger even than the planet Mercury. Ganymede is also the only known moon with its own magnetic field. Scientists have even found evidence for an underground ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface.

Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt created this image using data from the JunoCam camera. The images were acquired on Dec. 25, 2019, between 6:10 and 7:00 p.m. PST (9:10 and 10 p.m. EST), during Juno's inbound approach of its 24th close flyby of Jupiter. The images were taken when Ganymede was at a range of 60,695 - 68,002 miles (97,680 - 109,439 kilometers) from the spacecraft as it flew by.

JunoCam's raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at
https://missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing.

More information about Juno is at https://www.nasa.gov/juno and https://missionjuno.swri.edu.

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