Many craters with diameters up to several dozen kilometers are visible. Ganymede's magnetic field, which was detected by the magnetometer on NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 1996, may be partly responsible for the appearance of the polar terrain. Compared to Earth's polar caps, Ganymede's polar terrain is relatively vast. The frost on Ganymede reaches latitudes as low as 40 degrees on average and 25 degrees at some locations. For comparison with Earth, Miami, Florida lies at 26 degrees north latitude, and Berlin, Germany is located at 52 degrees north.
North is to the top of the picture.
The composite, which combines images taken with green, violet, and 1 micrometer filters, is centered at 306 degrees west longitude. The ASU Planetary Geology Group is under the direction of Dr. Ronald Greeley.