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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Juno Flyby of Ganymede and Jupiter
NASA ^ | 14 Dec, 2025 | Video Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SWRI, MSSS; Animation: Koji Kuramura, Gerald Eichstädt, Mike Stetso

Posted on 12/14/2025 12:43:08 PM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: What would it be like to fly over the largest moon in the Solar System? In 2021, the robotic Juno spacecraft flew past Jupiter's huge moon Ganymede and took images that have been digitally constructed into a detailed flyby. As the featured video begins, Juno swoops over the two-toned surface of the 2,000-km wide moon, revealing an icy alien landscape filled with grooves and craters. The grooves are likely caused by shifting surface plates, while the craters are caused by violent impacts. Continuing on in its orbit, Juno then performed its 34th close pass over Jupiter's clouds. The digitally-constructed video shows numerous swirling clouds in the north, colorful planet-circling zones and bands across the middle -- featuring several white-oval clouds from the String of Pearls, and finally more swirling clouds in the south.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa
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Today's image is a video at the source link.

1 posted on 12/14/2025 12:43:08 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list 🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

Today's image is a video at the source link.

2 posted on 12/14/2025 12:45:57 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Awesome ...would like to see the surface ...


3 posted on 12/14/2025 12:48:36 PM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Am Yisrael Chai ~)
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To: MtnClimber
Amazing video. Jupiter looks like a different planet seen from that direction. The whole video reminds me of Kubrick’s 2001 and 2010.
4 posted on 12/14/2025 12:57:59 PM PST by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum…)
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To: MtnClimber

I saw a Mongol riding on a horse.


5 posted on 12/14/2025 1:03:38 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
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To: blueunicorn6

Eating a cheeseburger.


6 posted on 12/14/2025 1:04:15 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
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To: MtnClimber

My winning-est marble as a kid looked a lot like that.


7 posted on 12/14/2025 1:18:33 PM PST by AFB-XYZ (( We have two options: 1. Stand up, or 2. Bend over))
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To: MtnClimber

Very cool!!


8 posted on 12/14/2025 1:35:57 PM PST by econjack
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To: MtnClimber

Dramatic. Especially those electrical storms on Jupiter!


9 posted on 12/14/2025 1:37:27 PM PST by marktwain (----------------------)
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