PASADENA, Calif. -- NASAs Galileo spacecraft has harvested images of three of Jupiters 16 moons, revealing new features on the tiny bodies.

The new images, captured between August 1999 and January 2000 during a derring-do dip the spacecraft made toward Jupiter, give the highest-resolution views yet of Thebe, Amalthea and Metis.

The small moons appear cratered and irregularly shaped in the images, indicating they have been battered by collisions with smaller bodies. Particles kicked up during those collisions contribute to Jupiters dark, tenuous rings.

On Thebe, the images show a prominent impact crater 25 miles (40 kilometers) across that scientists have provisionally dubbed, "Zethus." In classical Greek mythology, Zethus was the husband of the nymph Thebe.

Near the moons south polar region, a large white patch crops up in the images. The unknown material is brighter than any other region of the three moons.

On Amalthea, named for the nymph who nursed the infant Jupiter, a similarly bright patch appears in the new images.

Previously, scientists believed the surface feature they called "Ida" was spot-like in shape. It now appears as a long streak, possibly formed as a result of a meteoroid impact. Another crater, 25 miles (40 kilometers) across, dominates much of the moon.

Metis, the innermost moon named for Jupiters first wife, is just 25 miles (40 kilometers) in diameter and appears as a gray blob in the images.

However, prior to Galileos arrival at Jupiter in 1995, Metis and Thebe appeared as mere pinpricks of light in Voyager images.

A 1997 family portrait, also captured by Galileo, shows the moons at a much lower resolution.

Galileo is midway through its second bonus mission at Jupiter following the conclusion of its prime mission in 1997. NASA hopes to make joint observations of the mammoth planet with its Cassini spacecraft, which will swing by Jupiter in December while en route to Saturn.