If a moon should be capitalized, it is Ganymede. This is how the Juno probe saw him

Approaching Jupiter once again in December 2019, the Juno spacecraft passed over the North Pole of Ganymede, the largest moon in the entire solar system. Infrared images taken with the JIRAM instrument allowed researchers to map the northern regions of this massive moon.

Ganymede is the true lord of the moons

Ganymede is in no way confused with the Moon orbiting the Earth. Paradoxically, it can be said that if a moon should be written with a capital letter, it should be Ganymede, because the Earth's Moon next to it is only the moon. But okay, it's not about language here, and Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system.

With its size (5268 km in diameter), it is larger than Mercury, the smallest planet in our planetary system. As if that were not enough, Ganymede is the only moon that has its own magnetic field. On Earth, along the magnetic field lines, the solar wind fluxes entering the Earth's atmosphere create spectacular auroras. However, since Ganymede has no atmosphere to stand in the way of the stream of charged particles, its poles are constantly bombarded with plasma from Jupiter's giant magnetosphere.

The largest moon of Jupiter and beyond is mostly water ice. The aforementioned magnetic field and the associated pole bombardment cause the North Pole ice to be plasma modified and amorphous.

This is because charged particles, following the magnetic field lines, strike the ice directly, destroying its structure and preventing the crystal structure from forming. The water molecules at both poles do not line up in any particular way, unlike the crystalline ice at Ganymede's equator.

The Juno probe explores the ice at Ganymede's poles

The JIRAM (Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper) instrument was designed to observe infrared radiation emanating from Jupiter's deeper layers, 50 to 70 km below the highest clouds in the planet's atmosphere. Nevertheless, the instrument is also useful for studying the moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, i.e. the four so-called Jupiter's Galilean moons (all four were discovered by Galileo in early 1610).

Knowing that the Juno probe would be in the Juno probe's field of view on December 26, engineers programmed the flight so that the instruments were aimed at Ganymede's surface. At the time of its closest approach to the moon, at a distance of about 100,000 km - JIRAM took 300 photos of the surface at a scale of 23 km / pixel.

Comparison of the sizes of the Earth, Ganymede and the Moon.

This is just the beginning of the adventure with Ganymede

The information Juno collects will be very useful during his next mission to Jupiter. The European JUICE probe (Jupiter ICy moons Explorer), starting in 2030, for 3.5 years will study the giant magnetosphere and the turbulent atmosphere of Jupiter, but also Ganymede, Callisto and Europe. According to the plans, in September 2032, the probe, moving in orbit around Jupiter, will enter orbit around Ganymede. In this way, JUICE will become the first-ever space probe orbiting a moon other than Earth.

Initially, the probe will be in orbit at an altitude of 5,000 km above Ganymede's surface, and in 2033 it will descend to an altitude of 500 km. If all goes according to plan, the probe will create sensational maps of Ganymede, thanks to which this relatively unknown moon can spectacularly enter the public consciousness. However, we will have to wait a dozen or so years for this.

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If a moon should be capitalized, it is Ganymede. This is how the Juno probe saw him

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