The first global map of Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede was finally released Wednesday.
Ganymede, with its wide-ranging terrain and possible underground ocean, is one of the extraterrestrial objects considered in the search for habitable environments. It is particularly of great interest to scientists because it is the only satellite in the solar system with magnetosphere, an area of space near an astronomical object in which charged particles are controlled by that object's magnetic field -- similar to Earth. It also has a complex geology that shows a couple of distinct ages in its formation.
Researchers from Brown University led by Geoffrey Collins and Wes Patterson, spent many years combining images taken by NASA spacecrafts Voyager and Galileo to form Ganymede's map. The images used from the Voyager were taken sometime in 1979, while images taken by the Galileo were from 1995 to 2003.
The map will be used to aid in the future scientific exploration of the Galilean satellites.
Patterson, who now works with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a press release that through the creation of the map, scientists can address scientific question related to the formation and evolution of Ganymede more accurately.
Jim Head, a Professor of Geological Sciences at Brown and one of the map's co-authors, was very happy to see the results of all their efforts.
"Brown graduate and undergraduate students worked shoulder-to-shoulder in the Planetary Geosciences Laboratory in Lincoln Field Building, studying the newly acquired images and choosing new sites of scientific interest. The discoveries were daily and the adrenaline was surging as we rushed to collect our thoughts and plans, review them with the SSI Team, and get them uploaded to the spacecraft in time for the next encounter," Head told Phys.org.
"I'm so glad all that work has paid off in the form of this detailed global map. It is equally rewarding to see that the Brown team has now moved on to positions of leadership in the planetary exploration research community," Head added.
The map of Ganymede was published on Feb. 12 in the U.S. Geological Survey.
