Hubble’s View of Ganymede in 1996

This image presents Jupiter’s moon Ganymede as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 1996. Located over 600 million kilometres away, Hubble can follow changes on the moon and reveal other characteristics at ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths.

Astronomers have now used archival datasets from Hubble to reveal the first evidence for water vapour in the atmosphere of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, the result of the thermal escape of water vapour from the moon’s icy surface.