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This view of Callisto's Asgard multi-ring structure was taken by the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) 90 minutes before closest approach. The false color image shows surface compositional differences, white=more ice, blue=less ice. The large bright/white area is the palimpsest or center of Asgard. The smaller bright area is Tornasuk, a crater with a diameter of about 70 km.

The infrared spectrum shows that Tornasuk exhibits a greater abundance of water ice compared with the surrounding region. This may be due to impact excavation revealing a more ice-rich subsurface and suggesting that the darker material is a relatively thin surface covering. This covering could be either impact debris material or a lag deposit of existing material from which the ice has evaporated away.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.