Antarctic Image
---------------

This is a mosaic of 40 images (in red, green, and violet colors) of
Antarctica taken by Galileo several hours after it flew close to the
Earth on December 8, 1990.  This is the first picture of the whole
Antarctic continent taken nearly at once from space, as distinct from
pictures pieced together from low orbit.  Galileo was about 200,000
kilometers (125,000 miles) from Earth when the pictures were taken.
Features as small as 3 miles across can be seen.

The icy continent is surrounded by the dark blue of three oceans: the
Pacific to the right, the Indian to the top, and a piece of the
Atlantic to the lower left.  Nearly the entire continent was sunlit at
this time of year, just two weeks before southern summer solstice.  The
arc of dark spots extending from near the South Pole (close to the
center) toward the upper right is the Transantarctic Mountain Range.
To the right of the mountains is the vast Ross Ice Shelf and the
shelf's sharp border with the dark waters of the Ross Sea.  The thin
blue line along the Earth's limb marks our planet's atmosphere.

Launched in October 1989 and bound ultimately for Jupiter, Galileo
received the first of its two gravity assists from its home planet on
December 8, 1990, and is proceeding on toward the asteroid Gaspra.


Ross Ice Shelf Image
--------------------

This is a subset of the mosaic described above that shows only the area
around the Ross Ice Shelf, Ross Island, and the Transantarctic
Mountains.  These images have been enhanced from the true color mosaic
to bring out the contrast of the mountains and the blue of the
glaciers.  The largest glacier, seen in the left-center of the image,
is the Beardmore Glacier.  Ross Island and McMurdo Station are in the
upper right corner.