The top two images show the moon Thebe . The third image from the top is a view of Amalthea's leading side, the side of the moon that 'leads' as Amalthea moves in its orbit around Jupiter. The fourth image from the top emphasizes prominent 'spots' of relatively bright material that are located near the point on Amalthea that faces permanently away from Jupiter. The bottom image is a view of the tiny moon Metis . These four images of Jupiter's moon, Amalthea, were taken by Galileo's solid state imaging system at various times between February and June 1997.
North is approximately up in all cases.
In such a tidally locked state, one side of Amalthea always points in the direction in which Amalthea moves as it orbits about Jupiter. The Sun illuminates the surface from the left in the top left image and from the right in the bottom left image. Such lighting geometries, similar to taking a picture from a high altitude at sunrise or sunset, are excellent for viewing the topography of the satellite's surface such as impact craters and hills. In the two images on the right, however, the Sun is almost directly behind the spacecraft. It emphasizes the presence of surface materials that are intrinsically brighter or darker than their surroundings.