May 3 1996
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
NASA's Galileo spacecraft discovered a giant iron core taking up half of the diameter of Jupiter's moon lo, as well as a large hole in Jupiter's magnetic field. Galileo Project Scientist Torrence V. Johnson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) identified lo as the most "geographically active body in the solar system." Galileo scientists also measured the intense heat Jupiter generates, noting that the planet has a massive gravity field. Galileo managed to come within 559 miles (900 kilometers) of Jupiter during its 1995 flyby, allowing scientists to locate the iron core and the hole in the magnetic field. Although they were still grappling with the significance of the "completely unexpected finds," scientists reported their early analysis of the data in Science magazine.
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