A new study suggests that the solar system’s largest moon, Ganymede, was struck by a large asteroid about 4 billion years ago, causing an impact that may have changed its orientation relative to Jupiter. The study estimates that the asteroid that hit the satellite was 20 times larger than the one that hit Earth 66 million years ago (and is the basis for the theory that the dinosaurs became extinct for this reason).
The possible change in orientation of one of Jupiter’s moons is due, in addition to the devastating force of the collision, to the extra weight of the asteroid that could have destabilized the satellite, the study concludes.
The result was that Ganymede began to spin on its own axis and always with the same face facing Jupiter.That is, the part impacted by the asteroid turned its back on the largest planet in the solar system.
A massive collision billions of years ago may have dramatically reoriented Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon. https://t.co/GnFVAm2BLU
– New Scientist (@newscientist) September 3, 2024
Planetary scientist Naoyuki Hirata of Kobe University in Japan ran computer simulations and concluded that The impact caused by the asteroid formed a crater 1,000 miles (about 1,600 kilometers) wide.Ganymede’s rough surface is explained by the impact caused by the collision. Hirata explains in Scientific Reports that “the entire original surface of the moon was destroyed,” which caused significant damage to the satellite, as its interior was also affected.
In search of more scientific evidence, the Juice mission was launched last year to study Jupiter and its moons. Professor Leigh Fletcher from the University of Leicester highlighted the regular cosmic bombardment that Jupiter’s moons have been subjected to for billions of years and believes that observations from the Juice mission could be a good source of explanations for what happened.
Ganymede is larger than the planet Mercury and scientists believe the Jupiter moon may have a hidden ocean of saltwater.
For the first time, our #JunoMission has detected mineral salts and organic compounds on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. The discovery suggests that an underground oceanic brine is reaching the crust of the icy world: https://t.co/lJlZ53iGyg pic.twitter.com/xs8F5SPZmq
— NASA (@NASA) October 31, 2023
Source: Observadora
