Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2021 June 14 [2]The picture shows Jupiter's moon Ganymede during a close pass of NASA's Juno spacecraft. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Ganymede from Juno Image Credit: [3]NASA/[4]JPL-Caltech/[5]SwRI/[6]MSSS; Processing & [7]License: [8]Kevin M. Gill; Explanation: What does the largest moon in the Solar System look like? [9]Jupiter's moon [10]Ganymede, larger than even [11]Mercury and [12]Pluto, has an icy surface speckled with bright young craters overlying a mixture of older, darker, more cratered terrain laced with [13]grooves and ridges. The cause of the grooved terrain remains a [14]topic of research, with a leading hypothesis relating it to shifting ice plates. [15]Ganymede is thought to have an [16]ocean layer that contains more water than Earth -- and [17]might contain life. Like [18]Earth's Moon, Ganymede keeps the [19]same face towards its central planet, in this case Jupiter. The [20]featured image was captured last week by NASA's robotic Juno spacecraft as it passed only about 1000 kilometers above the immense moon. The close pass reduced Juno's orbital period around Jupiter from 53 days to 43 days. [21]Juno continues to study the [22]giant planet's high gravity, unusual [23]magnetic field, and complex [24]cloud structures. Last week's solar eclipse: [25]Notable images submitted to APOD Tomorrow's picture: god of fire on mars __________________________________________________________________ [26]< | [27]Archive | [28]Submissions | [29]Index | [30]Search | [31]Calendar | [32]RSS | [33]Education | [34]About APOD | [35]Discuss | [36]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [37]Robert Nemiroff ([38]MTU) & [39]Jerry Bonnell ([40]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [41]Specific rights apply. [42]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [43]ASD at [44]NASA / [45]GSFC & [46]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2106/Ganymede_JunoGill_2217.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ 5. https://www.swri.org/ 6. http://www.msss.com/ 7. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ 8. https://www.flickr.com/people/kevinmgill/ 9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/overview/ 10. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/ganymede/in-depth/ 11. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/ 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960711.html 14. https://www.gapphotos.com/images/WebPreview/0100/0100358.jpg 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganymede_(moon) 16. https://youtu.be/9e1wrjFSjkI 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/debate/debate100th.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210503.html 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking 20. https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/Vault/VaultOutput?VaultID=34521&t=1623441006 21. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-juno-mission-expands-into-the-future 22. https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/mission/ 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200225.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200106.html 25. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=APOD.Sky&set=a.3691846764252849 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210613.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 30. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 35. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210614 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210615.html 37. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 38. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 39. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 40. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 41. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 42. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 43. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 44. https://www.nasa.gov/ 45. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 46. http://www.mtu.edu/