Two separate images of Jupiter and its moon, Io, combine
here to make this striking picture. Instruments onboard the New Horizons
spacecraft recorded the image data when it flew past Jupiter in early 2007.
In the picture of Jupiter, the near-infrared imaging spectrometer
highlights variations in the Jovian clouds, rendering the Great Red Spot (the
prominent oval) in a bluish-white shade. The observation was manipulated in
order to correct distortion introduced by the rotation of the planet during the
scan.
The Io image is an approximately true-color composite which
shows an eruption in progress on Io's night side, at the northern volcano
Tvashtar. Lava glows red beneath a high volcanic plume, illuminated by
sunlight. The plume appears blue due to scattering of light by small particles within.
--NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied
Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
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