The US space agency, NASA, revealed this Tuesday The first two images of the Juno spacecraft flying over Jupiter’s giant moon Ganymede, with details Potholes, light and dark terrain.

It is the closest approach ever to Ganymede. It is operated by Juno, an unmanned probe and the solar-powered spacecraft that has traveled the farthest into space.

The images “show the surface in great detail, including craters, clearly contrasting dark and bright terrain, and tall structural features likely associated with tectonic faults.” Reported by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

One of the images comes from the image creator JunoCam, from orbiting Jupiter, and the other from the stellar reference camera.

“This is the closest spacecraft to this giant moon in a generation.” Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Independent Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, said.

Using its green filter, JunoCam spacecraft photographer Almost captured the entire side of the moon covered in water ice With an image resolution of approximately 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) per pixel, the statement details.

Copies of this image are produced that include red and blue camera filters, Photo experts will be able to provide a color image of Ganymede, the JPL warns.

For its part, Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit, a navigational camera that maintains the orientation of the spacecraft, has been provided. Black and white drawing of Ganymede’s dark side.

This is the side opposite the Sun, immersed in the dim light scattered by Jupiter. This image has a resolution of between 0.37 and 0.56 miles (between 600 and 900 meters) per pixel.

Heidi Becker, head of Juno’s radiation monitoring division at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, claimed that the conditions under which the image of the dark side of Ganymede was collected It was perfect for a low-light camera like the Star Reference Unit.

“So this is a different part of the roof that JunoCam sees in direct sunlight. It will be interesting to see what the two teams can rebuild.”, anhelo.

Juno will be sending more photos of her Ganymede Air in the coming days It is expected that his meeting with the moon Jupiter will provide information about him Composition, ionosphere, magnetosphere and ice sheets.

At the same time, Scientists believe that measurements of the radioactive environment can be obtained that will benefit future missions of the Jovian system.

“We will take our time before drawing scientific conclusions, but until then we can simply marvel at this celestial wonder: The only moon in our solar system is larger than MercuryResearcher Bolton said.

After five years of travel, the Juno spacecraft reached Jupiter’s orbit in July 2016. The unmanned ship is of size A basketball court, is the first of its kind designed to operate in the core of Jupiter’s radiation belts and the first to reach 2,575 kilometers of upper clouds.

With information from EFE

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