Image source, NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
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Recent images of Juno will be compared with images from previous missions to check for changes.
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The Juno drone belonging to the United States space agency (NASA) has sent a close sighting of Ganymede, one of the four moons orbiting Jupiter and the largest natural satellite in the Solar System.
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The image was taken from a distance of about 1,000 kilometers.
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That’s the shortest distance any spacecraft has reached in more than 20 years.
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Juno just happened to be passing by; studying Jupiter had become a daily chore. But the European Space Agency will send a special mission soon.
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The Jupiter ICy moon Explorer, abbreviated as Juice, will fly past Jupiter’s two satellites, Callisto and Europa, before placing itself in a fixed orbit around Ganymede, expected in 2032.
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Images from Juno show the fractured and cratered surface of Ganymede in great detail. They will be compared with images taken by the Galileo (1995-2003) and Voyager (2003), both of which also belong to Nasa, to see if any changes over time.
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“[Juno] been closest to this giant moon of any spacecraft in a generation,” said Juno Principal Researcher Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
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“It will be some time before we can draw any scientific conclusions, but in the meantime we can admire this magical celestial body.”
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With a diameter of 5,268 kilometers, Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System.
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One of the things that has attracted many scientists to Ganymede – as well as Callisto and Europa – is the possibility of water beneath its icy surface.
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