Hubble’s View of Ganymede in 1996

This image presents Jupiter's moon Ganymede as seen by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 1996. Located 1/2- billion miles (over 600 million kilometers) away, Hubble can follow changes on the moon and reveal other characteristics at ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths.

Astronomers have now used new and archival datasets from Hubble to reveal evidence of water vapor in the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Ganymede for the first time, which is present due to the thermal escape of water vapor from the moon's icy surface.

About the data

The HST observations include those from program 6029 (J. Spencer)