Ganymeded Archives - Astrobiology

Image of Antarctica as seen by human eyes from orbit - Fram2/SpaceX

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Callisto, Cryobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ice Planet Exploration: A Dataset Of Antarctic Ecosystems In Ice-free Lands

by Keith CowingMay 8, 2025May 8, 2025

Astrobiology.com Editor’s note: Recently the Fram2 mission took four astronaut explorers on an orbital path that covered both of our planet’s polar regions. This was the fist human mission to […]

Comparing CO2 exosphere to surface properties on Ganymede’s leading hemisphere. A) Vertical CO2 gas column density (unit of 1018 m−2 , this work, see also Fig. O.2); B) Depth of CO2-solid absorption band (Paper I); C) Central wavelength of CO2-solid absorption band (Paper I); D) Reflectance at 3.65 µm (Paper I); E) Central wavelength of H2O Fresnel peak (Paper I); F) Relative amplitude of the maximum reflectance between 3.5 and 4 µm (H2O interband amplitude, Paper I). The north pole of the leading hemisphere possesses the most red-shifted absorption band center of solid CO2, consistent with CO2 trapped in amorphous H2O ice (Paper I). It also has the higher reflectance at 3.65 µm and H2O interband amplitude, indicative of a higher density of facets in H2O ice for the photons (i.e., smaller grains and/or more internal defects and/or higher micro-roughness/porosity), and the most blue-shifted central wavelength of the H2O Fresnel peak due to a higher proportion of amorphous water ice (Mastrapa et al. 2009). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Jupiter, Status Report

A Patchy CO2 Exosphere On Ganymede Revealed By The James Webb Space Telescope

by Keith CowingSeptember 23, 2024September 23, 2024

Jupiter’s icy moon Ganymede has a tenuous exosphere produced by sputtering and possibly sublimation of water ice. To date, only atomic hydrogen and oxygen have been directly detected in this […]

View of our cratered Moon at the top of the image, as captured by the Juice monitoring camera 1 (JMC1) at 23:25 CEST on 19 August 2024, soon after Juice made its closest approach to the Moon. On the left side of the image we see parts of the spacecraft itself. -- Simeon Schmauß & Mark McCaughrean LICENCE CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence (larger image)

Europa, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Moon, Status Report

Astrobiology Droid Update: ESA Juice Completes Moon Flyby

by Keith CowingAugust 20, 2024August 21, 2024

During the first step of humankind’s first-ever lunar-Earth flyby, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission captured this stunning view of the Moon.

Ganymede

Europa, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Sharpest Earth-based Images Of Europa and Ganymede Reveal Their Icy Landscapes

by Keith CowingOctober 10, 2022October 10, 2022

The cocktail of chemicals that make up the frozen surfaces on two of Jupiter’s largest moons are revealed in the most detailed images ever taken of them by a telescope […]