NASA shares picture of Jupiter's icy Ganymede moon, calls it a 'mood'

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) took to social media to share a picture of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. In the caption accompanying the image on Instagram, NASA has documented the information related to the image as obtained by Juno spacecraft’s Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument. According to the US space agency, the observations made by the JIRAM instrument gives new information on Ganymede's icy surface.

NASA shares an image of Ganymede

In the caption, NASA informs that Jupiter's Ganymede moon was “Looking dark and mysterious in this infrared view.” Jupiter’s icy moon was captured by NASA Solar System’s Juno spacecraft during its July 20 flyby. According to the US space agency, the spacecraft's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, "which sees in infrared light not visible to the human eye, developed the image." 

The US space agency further explained that the spacecraft's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument has been designed to capture the infrared light emerging from deep inside Jupiter. The instrument has probed the weather layer down to 30 to 45 miles (50 to 70 kilometres) below Jupiter’s cloud tops. NASA in the post explained that the observations made by the JIRAM instrument "provides new information on Ganymede's icy shell and the composition of the ocean of the liquid water beneath." Take a look at the post here:

The post, shared on August 7, has garnered over 661,704 likes and scores of reactions. Netizens are amazed to see the picture and have been posting their reaction in the comments. One user commented, "so precious and beautiful," while another Instagram user commented, "Wow.this is very beautiful.thanks god [sic]" One of the users also commented, "Nasa surprised me everytime." Check out some user reactions: 

Shades of Earth's moon

Recently, NASA shared an image that shows the northern region of our Moon, which was created by combining 53 different images and shows a false colour. The most enthralling part about the picture is that it was captured by a 3-decade old spacecraft - Galileo - which was sent to Jupiter in December 1992. The spacecraft took the picture while on its way to Jupiter. 

IMAGE: NASA/Instagram