APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Io: The Fissure King?
Explanation: Explanation : Is Io the solar system's Fissure King ? Well, probably not ... but it is the most active volcanic moon . Active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io were a surprise discovery of the Voyager missions of the late 1970s. The extent of Io's volcanic activity today is being investigated close-up by the Galileo spacecraft currently exploring the Jovian system. The two frames above show a roughly 300 mile square area around the Io volcano called Marduk. The left-hand view of Marduk was made by Voyager in 1979, the right-hand view by Galileo earlier this year. A comparison reveals that dramatic changes have occured, including the creation of a dark, linear feature running diagonally through the Galileo image that is probably a huge volcanic fissure.
| Date | November 29, 1996 |
|---|---|
| Credit |
Io: The Fissure King? Credit: Voyager Project, Galileo Project, JPL, NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |



