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Galilean Satellites Gallery


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Galilean Satellites Gallery:

Io

This montage of Jupiter and Io was taken by the New Horizons spacecraft which is currently en route to Pluto. The image shows a major volcanic eruption occurring on Io's nightside, emanating from the volcano Tvashtar. Incandescent lava glows red beneath a 330 km high plume of gas and dust. Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/ Goddard Space Flight Center.

The eruption from volcano Tvashtar dominates this image of Io, but there are also two other eruptions taking place, one from volcano Prometheus located at the 9 o'clock position, and one from volcano Amirani along the terminator. The blue appearance of the plumes is due to scattering of light by tiny dust particles ejected by the volcano. The crescent of Europa was also captured in this image by the New Horizons spacecraft. Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

With over 400 active volcanoes, Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. This mosaic of Io's surface shows volcanic vents as black dots, with lava flows in various shades of red, yellow and green due to their sulphurous content. The volcanism on Io is driven by the tiny moon's gravitational interaction with Jupiter, which causes the moon's interior to be pushed and pulled as it orbits the giant gas planet. Image: NASA/JPL/USGS

This image shows the mountains of Io. Compared to the volcanoes, Io's moutains have sharp angular edges and were probably formed when blocks of the moon's crust were uplifted along fault lines. The mountain to the left of this image, Mongibello Mons, rises 7km above the plains of Io. Image: NASA/JPL/ University of Arizona/Arizona State University.

 

  

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