Looks like you're using an older browser. For the best experience possible, please upgrade your browser or download a modern browser.
We recommend these free browsers: Firefox or Chrome
For the optimal Juno experience please install Chrome. Download Chrome. Or continue to explore features of the Juno spacecraft using the links on your left.
Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Gerald Eichstädt
This sequence of four images from NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveals the first views of the north polar region of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. Juno is the first mission to directly image this part of Ganymede, which is the largest moon in the solar system, larger even than the planet Mercury. Ganymede is also the only known moon with its own magnetic field. Scientists have even found evidence for an underground ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface.
Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt created this image using data from the JunoCam camera. The images were acquired on Dec. 25, 2019, between 6:10 and 7:00 p.m. PST (9:10 and 10 p.m. EST), during Juno's inbound approach of its 24th close flyby of Jupiter. The images were taken when Ganymede was at a range of 60,695 - 68,002 miles (97,680 - 109,439 kilometers) from the spacecraft as it flew by.