| NASA Center: |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Image # : |
P-21207 |
|---|
| Date : |
03/04/1979
|
|---|
|
Title
Voyager 1 Image of Ganymede
Full Description
Voyager 1 took this picture of Ganymede from a distance of 1.6
million miles. Ganymede is Jupiter's largest satellite with a
radius of approximately 2600 kilometers, about 1.5 times that
of Earth's Moon. Ganymede is the seventh and largest of
Jupiter's known satellites and is the third of the Galilean
moons. Discovered in 1610 by Galileo and Marius, Ganymede is the largest
satellite in the Solar System. It was named after the
Greek mythical character, Ganymede, a handsome Trojan
boy that Zeus took to Olympus to be a cupbearer for the gods
(one of the only humans in Greek mythology who became
immortal). Ganymede is larger than Mercury but has only half
Mercury's mass. It has a bulk density of only two grams
per cubic centimeter, almost half that of Earth's Moon.
Ganymede is most likely composed of a mixture of rock and ice.
The long white filaments resemble rays associated with impacts
on the lunar surface. The various colors of different regions
probably represent differing surface materials. Several dots
of a single color (blue, green, and orange) on the picture are
the result of markings on the camera used for pointing
determinations and are not physical markings. Voyager
scientists discovered that Ganymede has its own magnetosphere
embedded inside Jupiter's large one. JPL manages and controls
the Voyager Project for NASA's Office of Space Science.
Keywords
Ganymede Voyager Grand Tour Galileo Magnetosphere Jupiter
Subject Category
Voyager-Galileo, Jupiters Moons,
Reference Numbers
- Center:
JPL
- Center Number:
P-21207
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2003-000007
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA
- Original Source: Digital
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
| Thumbnail |
JPEG |
72 |
90 |
4 |
| Small |
JPEG |
577 |
722 |
34 |
| Medium |
JPEG |
1203 |
1505 |
134 |
| Large |
JPEG |
2406 |
3009 |
1,674 |
Other relevant NASA Web sites:
• NASA Headquarters
• NASA History Office
• NASA Image eXchange (NIX)
• NASA Multimedia Gallery
• NASA Human Spaceflight
Updated Aug 20, 2009
• History Questions: NASA History Office
• Responsible NASA Official: Steve Garber
• Author: Michael Hahn. Editor: Dwayne A. Day
• Curator & Technical Questions: Erin Needham
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