Ganymede (moon) moon Titan, which was previously thought to have been bigger. The grooved terrain was also seen. In 1995, the "Galileo" spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter and between 1996 and 2000 made six close flybys to explore Ganymede. These flybys are denoted G1, G2, G7, G8, G28 and G29. During the closest flyby—G2—"Galileo" passed just 264 km from the surface of Ganymede. During a G1 flyby in 1996, the Ganymedian magnetic field was discovered, while the discovery of the ocean was announced in 2001. "Galileo" transmitted a large number of spectral images and discovered several non-ice compounds on the surface of
Orbit of the Moon associated with the lunar orbit. The sidereal month is the time it takes to make one complete orbit around Earth with respect to the fixed stars. It is about 27.32 days. The synodic month is the time it takes the Moon to reach the same visual phase. This varies notably throughout the year, but averages around 29.53 days. The synodic period is longer than the sidereal period because the Earth–Moon system moves in its orbit around the Sun during each sidereal month, hence a longer period is required to achieve a similar alignment of Earth, the Sun, and the Moon.