Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, is home to a salty ocean with more water than all the water on Earth, NASA said today.
While the moon, which orbits Jupiter, has long been suspected to contain water, the Hubble Space Telescope has found compelling evidence of a vast salt water ocean beneath the moon’s icy surface, the space agency said.
Ganymede is the only moon in the solar system known to have its own magnetic field, and that magnetic field creates ribbons of glowing electrified gas, like the aurora on Earth. Scientists observed that when Jupiter’s magnetic field changes, Ganymede’s glowing ribbons of gas also changed — rocking back and forth.