Galileo Image of Io

NOTE: This image is made available in order to share with the public the excitement of new discoveries being made via the NASA/JPL Galileo spacecraft. Galileo scientists are in the process of calibrating and validating this data. The full digital image necessary for scientific analysis will be released within one year of receipt of this orbit's last data.

This image is available only on the WWW; it is not available in hardcopy or other forms.

Galileo Image of Io

Detail of changes around Marduk on Jupiter's moon Io as seen in images obtained by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1979 (left) and the imaging system aboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft on September 7th, 1996 (right). Note the new NW-SE trending linear feature which may be a volcanic fissure. The associated diffuse dark red deposits appear to be recent fragmental volcanic deposits (pyroclastics) plausibly resulting from lava fountains. North is to the top in both frames which are approximately 450 kilometers by 500 kilometers.

Launched in October 1989, Galileo entered orbit around Jupiter on December 7, 1995. The spacecraft's mission is to conduct detailed studies of the giant planet, its largest moons and the Jovian magnetic environment. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.

This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo.

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