ARC-1979-AC79-7026
Range : 5 million miles (8.025 million kilometers) This is a morning shot of Ganymede, largest of Jupiter's 13 satellites. It's slightly larger than Mercury with a density about twice that of water. It's believed to be made of rock and ice with a surface of water and ice. Ganymede is 4 times brighter than our Moon with the bright spot in center of photo 5 times brighter than the Moon, and may contain more ice than surrounding areas. The bright pattern around the spot seems like ray craters on the Moon and Mercury and the area may in fact be an impact crater that has exposed fresh, underlying ice. Photo taken through blue, green and orange filters.
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Details
NASA ID
ARC-1979-AC79-7026
Date Created
February 26, 1979
Center
ARC
Media Type
image
Photographer
JPL
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