Planets and Moons  ID: 11533

Moon Makeover

Story by Matt Davenport Released on May 15, 2014
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To explore Ganymede’s past, scientists brighten its hue.
Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, has a rich and intricate geologic history. Roughly two billion years ago, tectonic forces shifted chunks of the moon’s crust, producing extensive faults and ridges that stretched across its icy plains. Other landforms were created over the past four billion years, including legions of craters formed from bombardment by asteroids, meteoroids and comets. Using images collected by NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft, scientists examined nearly every square mile of Ganymede—a sphere bigger than the planet Mercury—and generated a color-coded map that visualizes the age and type of material found on its surface. Watch the video to see a colorful new view of this distant world.
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A map of Ganymede's surface geology is placed over a global view of the moon in this video.
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Images of Ganymede taken by NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft were used to create this global mosaic.
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Scientists assigned each pixel of the global mosaic a color based on the age and type of geologic material seen in the image.
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The new map will provide insights into the events and processes that shaped how Ganymede looks today.

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Lead Writer:
Matt Davenport (USRA)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Video and images courtesy of USGS Astrogeology Science Center/Wheaton/ASU/NASA/JPL-Caltech

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11533

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons