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.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
