Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Galileo's best images of Thebe, Amalthea, and Metis

Galileo's best images of Thebe, Amalthea, and Metis
Galileo's best images of Thebe, Amalthea, and Metis On January 4, 2000, near its orbit periapsis, Galileo captured its highest-resolution images of three of Jupiter's four inner regular moons: Thebe, Amalthea, and Metis, imaged from 192,700; 237,700; and 292,600 kilometers away, respectively. The images have been enlarged from their original resolution to a common scale for comparison, and rotated to place north approximately up. Thebe is about 84 kilometers pole-to-pole; Amalthea, 128 kilometers; and Metis, 38 kilometers. NASA / JPL / Cornell

Here is the original data for the above images, with the addition of Galileo's best image of Adrastea.

Galileo's highest-resolution images of Jupiter's ringmoons
Galileo's highest-resolution images of Jupiter's ringmoons From left to right, the moons are Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, and Thebe. All of the images except Adrastea were taken January 4, 2000; Adrastea was taken on December 19, 1996.
  • Galileo imaged Metis from a distance of 292,600 kilometers, and a resolution of 2.97 kilometers per pixel.
  • Galileo imaged Adrastea from a distance of 658,100 kilometers, and a resolution of 6.69 kilometers per pixel.
  • Galileo imaged Amalthea multiple times. This is the highest-resolution image, taken from a distance of 237,700 kilometers, and a resolution of 2.42 km/pixel.
  • Galileo imaged Thebe from a distance of 192,700 kilometers, and a resolution of 1.96 km/pixel.
Image: NASA / JPL / Cornell / Emily Lakdawalla