Ganymede
The biggest moon
Ganymede travels around Jupiter and is the biggest moon in the Solar System. It is even wider than Mercury! We call it a moon rather than a planet because it circles Jupiter. Its surface has ancient dark areas covered in craters, beside brighter places marked by long grooves.
Ganymede is made of rock and ice. Scientists have found clues that salty water hides deep beneath its surface. It also has its own magnetic field, an invisible region of magnetic forces. Spacecraft study this surprising world and compare it with neighbouring moons. Their differences help us understand how Jupiter’s large family formed long ago.
Help Ganymede get home → Explore in the planetarium →In the planetarium you can spin this world and look at it from every side.
Artist’s impression · the surface is an illustration.
Sources and images
Celestial maps: Solar System Scope / INOVE · CC BY 4.0. Thumbnails were reduced and shaded. Artistic SVG maps were created for this project.