                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2023 November 28
    A tan sphere is shown with dark markings and a few light craters. The
    sphere is the largest known moon in the Solar System: Jupiter's moon
     Ganymede. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

                             Ganymede from Juno
     Image Credit & Copyright: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Processing &
                           License: Kevin M. Gill;

   Explanation: What does the largest moon in the Solar System look like?
   Jupiter's moon Ganymede, larger than even Mercury and Pluto, has an icy
   surface speckled with bright young craters overlying a mixture of
   older, darker, more cratered terrain laced with grooves and ridges. The
   cause of the grooved terrain remains a topic of research, with a
   leading hypothesis relating it to shifting ice plates. Ganymede is
   thought to have an ocean layer that contains more water than Earth --
   and might contain life. Like Earth's Moon, Ganymede keeps the same face
   towards its central planet, in this case Jupiter. The featured image
   was captured in 2021 by NASA's robotic Juno spacecraft when it passed
   by the immense moon. The close pass reduced Juno's orbital period
   around Jupiter from 53 days to 43 days. Juno continues to study the
   giant planet's high gravity, unusual magnetic field, and complex cloud
   structures.

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