NASA beams back spectacular images of Jupiter and our solar system's biggest moon, Ganymede

[Judi Lynn]

BY SOPHIE LEWIS

JULY 15, 2021 / 8:46 AM / CBS NEWS

NASA's Juno probe has flown closer to Jupiter and its largest moon, Ganymede, than any other spacecraft in more than two decades — and the images it beamed back of the gas giant and its icy orb are breathtaking.

Juno approached Ganymede on June 7, before making its 34th flyby of Jupiter the following day, traveling from pole to pole in under three hours.

On Thursday, NASA released an animated series of images captured by the spacecraft's JunoCam imager, providing a "starship captain" point of view of each flyby. They mark the first close-up views of the largest moon in the solar system since the Galileo orbiter last flew past in 2000.

The time-lapse animation lasts three-and-a-half minutes, guiding space enthusiasts within 645 miles of Ganymede at 41,600 miles per hour. The images show the lighter and darker regions of the moon, believed to be the result of ice sublimating, transitioning from a solid to a gas state.

Also visible is the crater Tros, one of the largest and brightest crater scars on the moon.

More:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-images-animation-jupiter-biggest-moon-ganymede/

[global1]

1. What Are The Flashes Of Light That We See Sparking On The Surface?....nt

[Judi Lynn]

2. Ice! ✨ ❄️

[wryter2000]

3. What kind?

Not water, I imagine

[cstanleytech]

6. Yes, water ice.

They also think it might have internal salty oceans which is why its a potential candidate for having life.

[Layzeebeaver]

4. Or perhaps this.... lightning?

[link:https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/juno-solves-39-year-old-mystery-of-jupiter-lightning|

[eppur_se_muova]

5. I didn't see any on Ganymede, only in Jupiter's atmosphere -- huge lightning bolts.

Jupiter has storms bigger than the entire planet Earth, and lightning to go with.