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New Insights Revealed about
Jupiter’s Moon Ganymede!
April 30, 2018
By
Lorah Snow
NASA scientists have found new information about Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. They didn’t get it from a new space probe, or one that’s still operating, however. They got it by looking again at data from the Galileo mission, which ended in 2003.
This picture shows Ganymede with auroras orbiting Jupiter. Photo credit: NASA/ESA.
During the mission the Galileo spacecraft orbited Jupiter from 1991 to 2003 collecting data on the planet and its moons. It made key discoveries, such as that the moon Europa probably has an ocean beneath its icy surface, that the asteroid Ida is orbited by a moon (Dactyl), and that Ganymede possesses its own magnetosphere.
Inforgraphic describing Ganymede's magnetosphere. Credit: NASA
A magnetosphere is the magnetic field or bubble around a planet. The Galileo spacecraft carried equipment to collect data on Jupiter’s magnetosphere, and so it was able to collect data on Ganymede’s magnetosphere as well.
Ganymede’s magnetosphere interacts with Jupiter’s magnetosphere, and the Galileo spacecraft sent information about that to earth. But there was an important piece of it that no one had previously noticed; Galileo captured an explosive magnetic event occurring between the two magnetospheres.
During this event strong flows of plasma were pushed between Jupiter and Ganymede, and incoming plasma rain blasted away particles of Ganymede’s icy surface. The new analysis also revealed interesting details about the unique structure of Ganymede’s magnetosphere.
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