Ganymede: Moonquake World

Astronomy Picture of the Day · 1995-09-04 · NASA (public domain)

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Ganymede: Moonquake World — APOD for 1995-09-04

Ganymede probably undergoes frequent ground shaking events not unlike terrestrial earthquakes. Ganymede , the largest moon of Jupiter and the Solar System , has a thick outer coating of water ice. Passing Voyager spacecraft found a large number of cracks and grooves in the ice so it is thought that Ganymede, like the Earth , has large shifting surface masses called tectonic plates. Ganymede was discovered by Galileo and Marius in 1610, and is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto. The NASA spacecraft Galileo is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter is December of 1995.

Astronomy Picture of the Day for 1995-09-04 — image & explanation courtesy of NASA (public domain), mirrored at Tukuk-OS for reading and search convenience.

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