Galileo Ganymede 8 Flyby Entry Timeline

Ganymede 8 Flyby was 07 May 1997

Galileo's fourth flyby of Ganymede (also known as the Ganymede 8 flyby because it took place during Galileo's eighth orbit around Jupiter), the largest of Jupiter's Galilean satellites, occurred on 07 May 1997 at 15:57 UTC. At that time, Galileo came about 1485 km from the surface of Ganymede (or about 1.6 Ganymede radii from its center). As measured to the center of Ganymede, this is 0.4 times farther away than Galileo came to Ganymede during its closest approach on its second orbit back in September 1996. During this time, observations were also made of the Jovian magnetosphere as well as of the other satellites of Jupiter. Especially noteworthy during this particular orbit will be images of Jupiter's satellites Elara (approximately 40 km in size) and Metis (about 20 km).

The following timeline is a list of different events which will occur beginning with the official start of the Ganymede 8 encounter and proceding until the last data from the encounter are played back. The times are given in Universal Time (UTC) of the event at the spacecraft. 

Date/Time             Instrument    Event
________              __________    _____
04 May  16:00                       Start of Ganymede 8 encounter
        16:30                       Orbital Trim Maneuver (OTM) 26

05 May  00:00         UVS           Elara observing
        10:10                       Science Turn (Io plume monitoring)

06 May  09:33         SSI           First Io monitoring observation
        11:13         NIMS/UVS      Callisto south pole observation
        12:08         SSI           Callisto south pole imaging
        12:11                       Callisto closest approach (35,900 km)
        12:56         PPR           Callisto polarimetry/thermal observation
        22:30         F&P           Plasma sheet/aurora recording
        23:37         NIMS/UVS      Jupiter auroral asymmetry map

07 May  01:10         UVS           Jupiter auroral variability map
        07:31                       Io closest approach (956,000 km)
        11:17         UVS           First south polar haze zone observation
        13:18         NIMS          Ganymede Osiris observing
        13:38         PPR           Ganymede dayside thermal observation
        14:35         SSI           Ganymede Tiamat Sulcus
        15:38         F&P           Ganymede closest approach recording
        15:56                       Start Earth occultation by Ganymede
        15:57                       Start Sun occultation by Ganymede
                                    Ganymede closest approach (4,120 km)
        16:03                       End Earth occultation by Ganymede
        16:05                       End Sun occultation by Ganymede
        19:04                       Turn to return to Earth point
        19:58         NIMS          Last Io monitoring observation

08 May  09:49                       Europa closest approach (1,290,000 km)
        11:42                       Jupiter closest approach (663,000 km)
        16:34         SSI           Metis imaging

10 May  23:18         NIMS          Last south polar haze zone observation

11 May  02:00                       Orbital Trim Maneuver (OTM) 27
        16:00                       Start of data playback (Ganymede 8)

13 May  14:00         F&P           End Ganymede 8 real-time survey

25 May  05:04         RS            Start Earth occultation observing
        09:36                       Start Earth occultation by Jupiter

26 May  03:52                       End Earth occultation by Jupiter
        08:25         RS            End Earth occultation observing

02 Jun  16:00         F&P           Start second magnetosphere mini-tour

03 Jun  03:00                       Orbital Trim Maneuver (OTM) 28

18 Jun  05:30                       First Callisto 9 approach OPNAV

21 Jun  01:45                       Last Callisto 9 approach OPNAV

22 Jun  16:00                       End of data playback (Ganymede 8)

Other Event Related News

| NSSDC Galileo page | NSSDC Planetary page |

Author/Curator:
Dr. Edwin V. Bell, II
Mail Code 690.1
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
+1-301-286-1187
ed.bell@nasa.gov
[NSSDC Logo]
NASA Official: Dr. Ed Grayzeck V1.0, 24 June 1997
Last Updated: 07 February 2002, EVB II