Ganymede: Global Color View
Date: 26 Jun 1996

This color view of Ganymede was obtained by the Galileo spacecraft during its first encounter with the satellite. North is toward the top of the picture and the sun illuminates the surface from the right. The dark areas are the older, more heavily cratered regions and the light areas are younger, tectonically deformed regions. The moon's brownish-gray color is due to mixtures of rocky materials and ice. Bright spots are geologically recent impact craters and their ejecta.


The images used to create this view were acquired by NASA's Galileo spacecraft on 26 June 1996. The finest details that can be discerned in this picture are about 13.4 km (8.3 miles) across


This image uses the same data as PIA00716 and PIA01299. The color of the image here has been adjusted to more closely approximate how the scene might appear to human eyes.


Additional information about the Galileo mission is available online at: http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov.


NOTE: This processed image is copyrighted. Contact Ted Stryk for usage inquiries.


Last Update: 25 Mar 2011 (AMB)

Credit: NASA/JPL/Ted Stryk