Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM
This infrared view of Jupiter’s icy moon Ganymede was obtained by the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during its July 20, 2021, flyby.
Juno came within 31,136 miles (50,109 kilometers) of Ganymede, the solar system’s largest moon, on July 20, 2021. During earlier flybys on June 7, 2021, and Dec. 26, 2019, the solar-powered orbiter came within 650 miles (1,046 kilometers) and 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers), respectively. The three observational geometries provided an opportunity for JIRAM to see the moon’s north polar region for the first time, as well as compare the diversity in composition between the low and high latitudes.
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Deb Schmid
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
