Discovery of mass anomalies on Ganymede.
We present the discovery of mass anomalies on Ganymede, Jupiter's third and largest Galilean satellite. This discovery is surprising for such a large icy satellite. We used the radio Doppler data generated with the Galileo spacecraft during its second encounter with Ganymede on 6 September 1996 to model the mass anomalies. Two surface mass anomalies, one a positive mass at high latitude and the other a negative mass at low latitude, can explain the data. There are no obvious geological features that can be identified with the anomalies.
Anderson
John D
JD
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA. john.d.anderson@jpl.nasa.gov
Schubert
Gerald
G
Jacobson
Robert A
RA
Lau
Eunice L
EL
Moore
William B
WB
Palguta
Jennifer L
JL