A massive asteroid impact on Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, dramatically changed the body’s axis, according to new research Scientific Reports.
Ganymede is a Jovian moon larger than Mercury. It is a compelling site for scientific research (and especially astronomy) because the moon is suspected of having an ocean of liquid water beneath the ice. But a new study confirms another interesting chapter in Ganymede’s story, which appeared way back in the 1980s: that about four billion years ago, the moon was hit by a large asteroid, which left curved craters on the surface of the moon.
In a recent study, Hirata Naoyuki, a researcher at Kobe University, simulated the size of the asteroid that would have caused the formation of trenches on Ganymede. Hirata discovered that the asteroid that hit Ganymede was 20 times larger than the asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago, ending the reign of the dinosaurs.
The transit crater formed by the impact was between 870 and 994 miles (1,400 and 1,600 kilometers) across. According to the simulations, the impacting body had to be that big to move Ganymede’s spin axis to where it is today.
“A large impact must have had a major impact on Ganymede’s initial evolution, but the thermal and structural effects of the impact on Ganymede’s interior have not been investigated at all. I believe that further research using the occurrence of ice moons can be done next,” said Hirata.
Fortunately, that line of research is on the docket. More than a decade after it was announced, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission was launched last year. The spacecraft recently orbited the Earth and the Moon on its way to the Jovian system, where it is expected to arrive in 2031. JUICE will make a six-month observation of Ganymede in 2034, which could shed light on the geological history of the solar system. a big month.
Of course, Ganymede’s main focus is related to life, which has yet to be found beyond Earth. Both Ganymede and Jupiter’s moon Europa have shown signs of harboring water beneath their icy shells; in 2021, water vapor was found in Ganymede’s atmosphere. Since water is a necessity for life as we know it, there is a lot of hope riding on the JUICE mission. We will know more in just seven short years.
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