Untitled Document
NASA/JPL/GALILEO/PIRL/University
of Arizona
This is one of the many
images of Jupiter's Moon Io made by the Galileo spacecraft. Io is the most volcanically
dynamic object in the solar system, with some three dozen active volcanoes.
Some are nearly twice as tall as Mt. Everest, the highest point on Earth.
Io has no impact craters,
which tells scientists its surface must be constantly recycled by the volcanism
and is probably no more than a million years old.
This image has been colorized,
and the background is Jupiter's clouds. It was taken in 1998 at a distance of
about 183,000 miles (294,000 kilometers). Io was discovered on Jan. 7, 1610,
by Galileo Galilei. It's about the same size as Earth's Moon.
Io's riot of color result
largely from sulfur compounds. [About
the colors]
-- Robert
Roy Britt
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