Inside Ganymede

This is a GIF from a longer animation. Click here to view the animation in full.

This animation shows the interior structure of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Ganymede is thought to host subsurface liquid oceans that will be explored in detail by ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice). It has an icy crust with evidence of a subsurface liquid ocean overlying an icy mantle, a rocky mantle, and core. Juice will characterise the icy crust and the extent of the subsurface ocean. It will also measure Ganymede’s intrinsic magnetic field in great detail. It is the only moon in the Solar System to generate its own magnetic field, which has complex interactions with Jupiter’s own vast magnetic field, and Juice will study the relationship between the two.

Understanding the state of the moon's interior, and in particular if it hosts liquid water, will help answer important questions about the habitability potential of the moon, and of similar exoplanet systems elsewhere in our Universe.