Juno Flyby of Ganymede and Jupiter
What would it be like to fly over the
largest moon in the
Solar System?
In June, the robotic
Juno spacecraft
flew past
Jupiter's
huge moon
Ganymede and took images that have been digitally constructed into a detailed flyby.
As the featured video begins,
Juno swoops over the two-toned surface of the 2,000-km wide moon, revealing an icy alien landscape filled with grooves and craters.
The grooves are likely caused by shifting surface plates, while the craters are caused by
violent impacts.
Continuing on in its orbit, Juno then performed its 34th
close pass over Jupiter's clouds.
The digitally-constructed video shows numerous
swirling clouds in the north,
colorful planet-circling zones and bands across the middle -- featuring several
white-oval clouds from the
String of Pearls, and finally more
swirling clouds in the south.
Next September, Juno is
scheduled to make a close pass over another of Jupiter's large moons:
Europa.