Scientists have discovered evidence that an asteroid 20 times larger than the one that ended the age of the dinosaurs slammed into Jupiter's moon, Ganymede. This impact was so vast that it shifted Ganymede's axis entirely, according to researchers from Kobe University. While several questions about the incident remain, the researchers hope to finally get some answers when the European Space Agency's JUICE space probe visits Ganymede in 2034.
'We know that this feature was created by an asteroid impact about 4 billion years ago, but we were unsure how big this impact was and what effect it had on the moon,' said Hirata Naoyuki, lead author of the study. Ganymede is currently largely unexplored, which means data from the moon is scarce.
Based on the location of the furrows on Ganymede - on the meridian farthest away from Jupiter - the researchers indicate that the moon was also reorientated by its asteroid collision. This study sheds light on how such colossal impacts can shape moons in the solar system.
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