NASA's Juno beams back another stunning Jupiter pic shadowed by its Moon Ganymede

In yet another intriguing transmission, NASA's Juno spacecraft has beamed back a new picture of Jupiter and its moon Ganymede. Captured using the spacecraft's JunoCam instrument, the image shows Jupiter and its magnificent swirls with a shadow cast by one of its biggest moons. According to NASA, this view was captured during Juno's 40th close flyby by the giant planet, which occurred on February 25. 

This enhanced-color photograph was created by citizen scientist Thomas Thomopoulos, who used the data from the JunoCam. At the time of Juno's recent flyby, it was about 71,000 kilometers above Jupiter’s cloud tops, at a latitude of about 55 degrees south. What's more, the spacecraft was 15 times closer than Ganymede, which orbits the gas giant approximately 1.1 million kilometers away from Jupiter.

"An observer at Jupiter’s cloud tops within the oval shadow would experience a total eclipse of the Sun. Total eclipses are more common on Jupiter than Earth for several reasons", NASA said. Out of 79 suspected moons of Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, which are also called Galilean moons are the four major ones.

Ganymede, the mystery moon

It is not the first instance when Juno has captured such a view of the mysterious moon. In the past, citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill released a similar picture. The image was captured during the spacecraft's 20th flyby when it was just 1,046 kilometers above Ganymede’s surface.

(Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill)

Ganymede is one of the targeted bodies which will be explored during the European Space Agency's JUICE mission scheduled for launch in 2023. The JUICE spacecraft will orbit Ganymede for eight months and will help scientists study its magnetism, Ganymede's most exciting feature. Interestingly, the spacecraft under this mission will become the first to orbit a Moon other than the Earth's.

Another attractive feature of Ganymede is its sub-surface ocean, which is said to have more water than on Earth. It is worth noting that this Moon of Jupiter is bigger than Pluto and Mercury, making it bigger than any other moon.