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
Formation and evolution of the Solar System This origin is indicated by the large sizes of the moons and their proximity to the planet. These attributes are impossible to achieve via capture, while the gaseous nature of the primaries also make formation from collision debris unlikely. The outer moons of the giant planets tend to be small and have eccentric orbits with arbitrary inclinations. These are the characteristics expected of captured bodies. Most such moons orbit in the direction opposite the rotation of their primary. The largest irregular moon is Neptune's moon Triton, which is thought to be a captured Kuiper belt object. Moons of solid Solar