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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Ganymede from Voyager 1

Ganymede from Voyager 1
Ganymede from Voyager 1 This 17-frame mosaic of Ganymede is composed of images obtained by Voyager 1 on March 5, 1979 over a period of about 2 hours. During these 2 hours Voyager 1's distance from Ganymede dropped from 305,000 to 180,000 km. The original GBV or OBV color images were used to create synthetic R, G and B color, resulting in approximately true color. In a few small areas only one or two colors were available; these areas were colorized by taking the color from nearby areas. NASA / JPL-Caltech / Björn Jónsson

Some of the source images used in this mosaic are smeared. This happened because the intense radiation in Jupiter's magnetosphere affected Voyager 1's computers and clock. As a result, some of the images were taken when the instrument scan platform was moving. These smeared images were successfully deconvolved, making it possible to use them for the mosaic.