Animation of a rotating globe of Jupiter's moon Ganymede, with a geologic map superimposed over a global color mosaic. The 37-second animation begins as a global color mosaic image of the moon then quickly fades in the geologic map. The views incorporate the best available imagery from NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft and NASA's Galileo spacecraft. To present the best information in a single view of Jupiter's moon Ganymede, a global image mosaic was assembled, incorporating the best available imagery from NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft and NASA's Galileo spacecraft. This image shows Ganymede centered at 200 west longitude. This mosaic (right) served
as the base map for the geologic map of Ganymede (left). Video credit (top): USGS Astrogeology Science Center/Wheaton/ASU/NASA/JPL-Caltech; image credit (bottom): USGS Astrogeology Science Center/Wheaton/NASA/JPL-Caltech Note: For more information, see Largest Solar System Moon Detailed in Geologic Map. Source: Article
A solar system arranged just like our own has been discovered a thousand light years from the Earth. The group of planets line up in a way similar to those in our solar systems, with their orbital planes aligned with the equator of their Sun. Dr Roberto Sanchis-Ojeda and colleagues analysed their transits over spots on the Sun-like star Kepler-30 and found they mirrored those round our Sun. In our solar system the Sun’s equator and the planets’ orbital planes are nearly aligned, presumably a consequence of their formation from a single spinning gaseous disk. There are only three planets in the alien solar system, compared to the eight in ours, but it is the first time one with the same alignment as our own has been found. The observation described in Nature sheds light on the conditions that determine the architecture of a planetary system. Many such ‘exoplanets’ do not display this arrangement and isolated ‘hot Jupiters’ - giant planets that orbit too close to their parent stars to harbour life - are often misaligned, some even with opposite orbits. 