Galileo Shoots Jupiter's Moon, Callisto

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - The images, acquired May 25 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Galileo spacecraft, were taken as close as 86 miles from the moon. The images show objects as small as 10 feet across.

Scientists said the terrain in the close-up images is unlike anything seen before on Jupiter's moons.

Knobby spires of ice more than 300 feet tall lie surrounded by darker material. The spires were likely formed from material thrown outward after the moon was struck by another object billions of years ago.

The full-color portrait, the first made by the robotic Galileo spacecraft, shows the heavily cratered, ice-and-rock covered face of Callisto, which is almost as large as the planet Mercury.

Galileo, launched in 1989, has orbited Jupiter since December 1995. Its mission will end with a fiery plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere in September 2003, on its 35th orbit of the giant planet.

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