Ganymede is Jupiter’s largest moon and the largest in the solar system. Discovered by Galileo Galilei, it has two types of surface geography and a tenuous oxygen atmosphere. It also has its own magnetic field and a thin ocean below its surface. Ganymede’s largest surface feature is the Galileo Regio, and its craters lack well-defined central domes and rims due to its weak ice crust.
Ganymede is a Jovian moon, the largest satellite of Jupiter and the largest satellite in the solar system. With a diameter of 5262 km, it is larger than Mercury, albeit with only half Mercury’s mass. Along with Io, Europa, and Callisto, Ganymede is a Galilean moon, meaning it was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with one of the first telescopes. Ganymede is named after the cupbearer of the Greek gods.
Ganymede has two types of surface geography: dark and ancient and light and fluted. Like the other Galilean moons, Ganymede is made up of equal parts silicate rock and various ices. Some parts of its surface look like an ice rink that has been smashed with a hammer, in this case the hammer is an impact asteroid. Overall Ganymede looks light brown, like sandstone.
As the third visible satellite of Jupiter, Ganymede was historically referred to as Jupiter III. Ganymede has a tenuous oxygen atmosphere. It also has its own magnetic field, the only moon in the solar system that has one. This is likely caused by the conduction of slowly circulating material in its core, such as Earth’s. Sufficiently large celestial bodies have an internal temperature necessary to melt the iron and the convective dynamics that determine its circulation.
Like other Galilean moons, Ganymede has a thin ocean below its surface. It is thought to be less likely to contain life than Europa, as Europa’s ocean is closer to the surface. Ganymede orbits 1,070,000 km from Jupiter, about three times the distance between the Earth and the moon.
Ganymede’s largest surface feature is the Galileo Regio, a cracked concentric ring structure similar to Valhalla on Callisto. The heavily cratered regions on Ganymede are over four billion years old, but the lighter regions are somewhat younger. Ganymede’s craters lack the well-defined central domes and crater rims on Mercury and the Moon because Ganymede’s crust is made of relatively weak ice that has a tendency to flow.
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