Jupiter and Ganymede

Esahubble_opo0842a_1024

esahubble_opo0842a December 18th, 2008

Credit: NASA, ESA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has caught Jupiter's moon Ganymede playing a game of "peek-a-boo." In this crisp Hubble image, Ganymede is shown just before it ducks behind the giant planet. Ganymede completes an orbit around Jupiter every seven days. Because Ganymede's orbit is tilted nearly edge-on to Earth, it routinely can be seen passing in front of and disappearing behind its giant host, only to reemerge later. Composed of rock and ice, Ganymede is the largest moon in our Solar System. It is even larger than the planet Mercury. But Ganymede looks like a dirty snowball next to Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System. Jupiter is so big that only part of its Southern Hemisphere can be seen in this image. Hubble's view is so sharp that astronomers can see features on Ganymede's surface, most notably the white impact crater, Tros, and its system of rays, bright streaks of material blasted from the crater. The image also shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the large eye-shaped feature at upper left. A storm the size of two Earths, the Great Red Spot has been raging for more than 300 years. Hubble's sharp view of the gas giant planet also reveals the texture of the clouds in the Jovian atmosphere as well as various other storms and vortices. Astronomers use these images to study Jupiter's upper atmosphere. As Ganymede passes behind the giant planet, it reflects sunlight, which then passes through Jupiter's atmosphere. Imprinted on that light is information about the gas giant's atmosphere, which yields clues about the properties of Jupiter's high-altitude haze above the cloud tops. This colour image was made from three images taken on April 9, 2007, with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in red, green, and blue filters. The image shows Jupiter and Ganymede in close to natural colours.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0842a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Ganymede Jupiter
Subject - Solar System
Planet > Type > Gas Giant
Planet > Satellite

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (R) 673.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 502.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (B) 410.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Esahubble_opo0842a_1280
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ID
opo0842a
Subject Category
A.1.1.2   A.1.4  
Subject Name
Ganymede, Jupiter
Credits
NASA, ESA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)
Release Date
2008-12-18T15:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0842a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
N/A
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
R, V, B
Central Wavelength
673, 502, 410
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
1162.0, 798.0
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
opo0842a
Metadata Date
2008-12-15T15:27-05:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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