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Eyeing Ganymede
by NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
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Jupiter casts a baleful eye toward the moon Ganymede in
this enhanced-contrast image from NASA's Cassini
spacecraft. Jupiter's "eye', the Great Red Spot, was
captured just before disappearing around the eastern edge
of the planet. The furrowed eyebrow above and to the left
of the spot is a turbulent wake region caused by westward
flow that has been deflected to the north and around the
Red Spot. The smallest features visible are about 240
kilometers (150 miles) across. Within the band south of
the Red Spot are a trio of white ovals, high pressure
counterclockwise-rotating regions that are dynamically
similar to the Red Spot. The dark filamentary features
interspersed between white ovals are probably cyclonic
circulations and, unlike the ovals, are rotating
clockwise. Jupiter's equatorial zone stretching across
the planet north of the Spot appears bright white, with
gigantic plume clouds spreading out from the equator both
to the northeast and to the southeast in a chevron
pattern. This zone looks distinctly different than it did
during the Voyager flyby 21 years ago. Then, its color
was predominantly brown and the only white plumes
conspicuous against the darker material beneath them were
oriented southwest-to-northeast. Ganymede is Jupiter's
largest moon, about 50 percent larger than our own Moon
and larger than the planet Mercury. The visible details
in this image are different geological terrains. Dark
areas tend to be older and heavily cratered; brighter
areas are younger and less cratered. Cassini images of
Ganymede and Jupiter's other large moons taken near
closest approach on Dec. 30 will have resolutions about
four times better than that seen here. This image is a
color composite of ones taken with different filters by
Cassini's narrow-angle camera on Nov. 18, 2000, processed
to enhance contrast. Cassini is a cooperative project of
NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space
Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages
the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington, D.C.
Date Published: 2009-10-14 11:14:03
Identifier: PLAN-PIA02837
Item Size: 58361
Media Type: image
# Topics
What -- Jupiter
What -- Moon
What -- Ganymede
What -- Cassini
What -- Voyager
What -- Mercury
Where -- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Where -- California
Where -- Washington
# Collections
nasa
planetaryphotojournalcollection
# Uploaded by
@bonniereal
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