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.
Eruption on Io
Explanation: There it goes again. Gas and rock were catapulted hundreds of kilometers into space as Jupiter 's most volatile moon, Io , showed yet another impressive volcanic display in this just-released photograph by the Hubble Space Telescope . This time the culprit was Pele , a volcano thought previously inactive since photographed by the passing Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1979. The explosion is visible on Io 's lower left in this false-color photograph , taken in July 1996. Io's thin atmosphere and low gravity allow volcanic plumes to rise higher than they would on Earth.
| Date | June 23, 1997 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: J. Spencer (Lowell Obs.), WFPC2, HST, NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |