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The most viable places on Ganymede

All 196 named places on Ganymede, scored one coordinate at a time on sunlight, water, radiation, temperature, ground and access — then ranked. Marius Regio comes out first.

Ganymede as a whole rates 55/100 to settle, and that single number is the same for every square metre of it. It is also the wrong number for a mission, because sunlight, water, radiation dose and the ground itself all change with where you stand. The ranking below re-asks the question at each of 196 catalogued coordinates and reports the difference from the median site — so a score of 55 here means “typical for Ganymede”, not “good”.

Water on Ganymede: Water ice crust over a subsurface ocean.

1Marius RegioRegio3° N, 172° E4,940 km53-2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
2Barnard RegioRegio7° S, 12° W3,200 km53-2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
3Melotte RegioRegio12° S, 115° E4,100 km53.1-1.9
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
4Siwah FaculaFacula7° N, 143° W220 km53.2-1.8
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
5Thebes FaculaFacula7° N, 158° E360 km53.2-1.8
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
6Coptos FaculaFacula10° N, 151° E329 km53.3-1.7
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
7Buto FaculaFacula13° N, 157° E245 km53.4-1.6
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
8Memphis FaculaFacula14° N, 132° W361 km53.4-1.6
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
9Busiris FaculaFacula16° N, 145° E369 km53.4-1.6
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
10Heliopolis FaculaFacula19° N, 147° W50 km53.5-1.5
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -158 °C mean at this latitude
11Hermopolis FaculaFacula22° N, 165° E260 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -158 °C mean at this latitude
12IshkurCrater0° N, 8° W67 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
13KittuCrater0° N, 25° E15 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
14ElCrater1° N, 151° W55 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
15KhensuCrater1° N, 153° W17 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
16DenderaCrater1° S, 105° E82 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
17MaaCrater1° N, 156° E31 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
18MirCrater3° S, 130° E8 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
19AnatCrater4° S, 128° W2.9 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
20MisharuCrater4° S, 24° E88 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
21DanelCrater4° S, 21° W56 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
22OmbosCrater5° N, 124° E177 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
23AntumCrater5° N, 141° E14.8 km53.7-1.3
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
24NinlilCrater6° N, 118° W91 km53.8-1.2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
25ApophisCrater8° S, 84° E57 km53.8-1.2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
26NinkiCrater8° S, 121° W194 km53.8-1.2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
27IsimuCrater9° N, 0° E89.5 km53.8-1.2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -156 °C mean at this latitude
28MelkartCrater10° S, 174° E105 km53.8-1.2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
29MotCrater10° N, 166° W23 km53.8-1.2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
30Edfu FaculaFacula26° N, 147° W184 km53.8-1.2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -159 °C mean at this latitude
31TrosCrater11° N, 27° W94 km53.8-1.2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
32En zuCrater12° N, 168° W5 km53.8-1.2
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
33We ilaCrater12° S, 70° E36 km53.9-1.1
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
34SerapisCrater12° S, 44° W169 km53.9-1.1
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
35RutiCrater13° N, 51° E16 km53.9-1.1
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
36TammuzCrater13° N, 129° E51 km53.9-1.1
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
37IlusCrater13° S, 110° W90 km53.9-1.1
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
38GadCrater14° S, 138° W72 km53.9-1.1
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
39NingishzidaCrater14° N, 170° E32 km53.9-1.1
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
40SaltuCrater14° S, 7° E40 km53.9-1.1
Radiation geometry: Under closed field lines, the shielded part of the only magnetosphere on any moon · Temperature: About -157 °C mean at this latitude
What this ranking cannot see

Elevation. Every score above comes from a latitude, a longitude and a feature class — never from a terrain model — so slope, local shadowing and the polar peaks of eternal light are invisible to it. That last one matters: on a world tilted barely a degree, a ridge top near the pole can catch sunlight almost continuously while a crater floor a few kilometres away has not seen the Sun in two billion years. This model scores the average surface at a latitude, so it reads poles as dark and ranks them accordingly. Where a real mission targets a pole, that is usually the reason — and the reason to read this as one input, not a verdict.