Today on Galileo - April 5, 1997
After yesterday's close encounter with Ganymede, the last flyby of this encounter period, the observation schedule begins to lighten. The morning contains a few residual observations of Ganymede while the rest of the day is scattered with observations of Io, Europa, Callisto and Jupiter's atmosphere. The first cruise set of commands is transmitted to the spacecraft in preparation for the end of the encounter period, less than two days away.
Jupiter observations once again focus on the selected small red spot, but also include north-south and east-west strip observations to provide context information. The observations of Io, Europa and Callisto are performed by the PPR (Photopolarimeter Radiometer) instrument in polarimetry mode. These observations are taken to provide information on surface texture and light scattering properties.