In Greek mythology, Ganymede was the son of King Tros, the founder of Troy. According to Homer, Ganymede was so handsome that the gods were fascinated by him. A few thousand years later, Jupiter’s largest moon was named Ganymede. It may not be the most beautiful rock in space, but it is a special case nonetheless.
Waiter Zeus
Let’s go back to Homer first. In the Iliad he describes how the gods kidnapped Ganymede to become Zeus’s personal wine cupbearer. This way the pretty boy didn’t have to spend his days in the presence of all the ordinary mortals with hooked noses, pointy ears and crow’s feet.
So Ganymede was given a place in the retinue of the supreme god Zeus. This god was known to the Romans as Jupiter. And so the circle was complete. Ganymede was Jupiter’s servant, and as a celestial body, he still faithfully followed in Jupiter’s footsteps.
Juice mission
But what about the moon’s shape? Is Ganymede really that special? The European Space Agency (ESA) hopes to find out in the coming years. They launched Jupiter Ice Moons Explorer (Juice) To explore three moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.
Ganymede is the endpoint of that mission. If all goes according to plan, JUICE will reach Jupiter in 2031. There, the probe will orbit the planet for the first time for three years and make regular close encounters with the moons. JUICE will then sail to Ganymede to devote the rest of its working life to studying the giant moon.
Ganymede is a giant moon.
Just as Jupiter is a giant among planets, so is Ganymede. At more than 5,200 kilometers in diameter, it narrowly trails another giant moon, Saturn’s moon Titan. That also makes Ganymede much larger than the planet Mercury and the dwarf planet Pluto.
But the European Space Agency is not interested in Ganymede because of its size. What caught the attention of the European Space Agency is the magnetic field around the moon. This magnetic field was actually discovered in 1996 Discovered by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft.
Moon with polar lights
Ganymede is still the only known moon with its own magnetic field, and even planets like Mars and Venus don’t have their own. For example, this magnetic field ensures that compasses work here on Earth, but it also provides protection against harmful radiation from space and against the solar wind. These are tiny particles that constantly blast out from the Sun into the solar system and can damage the atmosphere.
When the solar wind comes into contact with the magnetic field, it has a special effect. Small particles are drawn by the magnetic field to the poles of the celestial body, where they glow. This creates the northern and southern lights on Earth, and such spectacular auroras can also be seen on Ganymede.
Water on Ganymede
It was that aurora that led to the next important discovery of Ganymede. The lights moved much less than expected based on the magnetic field. According to NASA scientists This may be because Ganymede has an underground ocean with its own magnetic field. This field would slow down the aurora.
This ocean is said to be about a hundred kilometers deep, and is hidden under a layer of ice tens of kilometers thick. The ocean is not easily accessible, but it seems that there is water on Ganymede. If water can be found somewhere in the universe, science is on the rise in space organizations.
Is there life on Ganymede?
Water is a necessary condition for life. Joyce now has to determine whether that life exists. However, expectations should be tempered. There is a thick layer of ice between the water and Ganymede’s surface. It does not help much in life chances..
But life or not, Ganymede is worth studying, with its aurora and oceans. Is it as beautiful as its name suggests? That’s questionable. It’s basically a big frozen mass of rock, but who knows what Gus will find there. We’ll just have to be patient for a few years.
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