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Updated June 9th, 2021 at 12:53 IST

NASA's Juno spacecraft captures first close-up images of Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede

The high-quality Ganymede images clicked by the NASA Juno spacecraft showcases the tiniest of details on the surface of Jupiter's largest moon.

Reported by: Ananya Varma
NASA Juno image of Ganymede
Image- NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI | Image:self
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After nearly two decades, NASA's Juno spacecraft captured close-up photos of Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede. The extreme close-up images were sent by the Juno spacecraft after it flew as close as 645 miles (1,038 kilometers) to the surface of Ganymede, coming closest to the mammoth mon in a generation. The high-quality Ganymede images clicked by the NASA Juno spacecraft showcases the tiniest of details on the moon's surface including craters, distinct structured lines, and its tectonic faults.

"The first two images from NASA Juno’s June 7, 2021, flyby of Jupiter’s giant moon Ganymede have been received on Earth. The photos – one from the Jupiter orbiter’s JunoCam imager and the other from its Stellar Reference Unit star camera – show the surface in remarkable detail, including craters, clearly distinct dark and bright terrain, and long structural features possibly linked to tectonic faults," said NASA in a statement sharing the Ganymede images.

Jupiter moon photos 

According to NASA, the Jupiter moon photos were clicked by Juno spacecraft's 'JunoCam visible-light imager' which managed to snap the entire side of the water-ice-encrusted moon. More images captured by Juno from its Ganymede flyby will make their way in the coming future. As per NASA, when versions of the same image come down a color portrait of Ganymede will be able to be provided by image experts, incorporating the camera’s red and blue filters, up to a resolution of 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) per pixel. 

"This is the closest any spacecraft has come to this mammoth moon in a generation," said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "We are going to take our time before we draw any scientific conclusions, but until then we can simply marvel at this celestial wonder."

Jupiter's moon Ganymede is the only moon in the solar system with its own magnetosphere, a bubble-shaped area of charged particles around the celestial body that is larger than Mercury. 

About Juno mission

The Juno mission is a part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program. The solar-powered spacecraft's flyby was launched to provide insights about the Jupiter moon's composition, ionosphere, magnetosphere, and ice shell, in addition to stunning photographs. The findings will be used to supplement those from ESA's upcoming JUICE mission which aims to launch the first spacecraft to circle a moon other than Earth's Moon in 2032.

(Image-  NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI)

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Published June 9th, 2021 at 12:53 IST

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