October 25, 1996
Somewhere between the hydrogen and the starlight, between the gravity and the grace, the universe conspired to bring you into being.
A Flyby View of Ganymede
Birthday · October 25, 1996
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published October 25, 1996. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
This is what it would look like to fly over the surface of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. NASA's robot spacecraft Galileo recently approached only 6000 miles from this frozen ice-ball of a moon. The above image is a digital reconstruction from two images taken during this flyby. The blue color of the sky is artificial. Deep furrows cover Ganymede's surface, and several impact craters are also present. Galileo continues to orbit Jupiter and send back breathtaking photos of Ganymede, Io, Europa, Callisto, and, of course, Jupiter itself.