COLLECTION NAME:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Record
Title:
Io in True Color
Explanation:
The strangest moon in the Solar System [ http://www.nineplan… ] is bright yellow. This picture [ http://photojournal… ], showing Io's true colors, was taken in 1999 July by the Galileo spacecraft [ http://www.jpl.nasa… ] that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Io's colors derive from sulfur [ http://chemlab.pc.m… ] and molten silicate rock [ http://www.windows.… bin/tour_def/glossary/silicate_rock.html ]. The unusual surface of Io [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] is kept very young by its system of active volcanoes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ]. The intense tidal gravity [ http://www.clupeid.… ] of Jupiter [ http://www.solarvie… ] stretches Io [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] and damps wobbles caused by Jupiter's other Galilean moons [ http://www.jpl.nasa… ]. The resulting friction [ http://www.pa.uky.e… ] greatly heats Io [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ]'s interior, causing molten rock [ http://cmex.arc.nas… ] to explode through the surface. Io's volcanoes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] are so active that they are effectively turning the whole moon inside out. Some of Io [ http://www.nineplan… ]'s volcanic lava is so hot it glows in the dark [ http://adsabs.harva… bib_query?bibcode=1998Icar..135..181M ].
Credit and Copyright:
Galileo Project [ http://www.jpl.nasa… ], JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa… ], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ]
facet_when:
1999
facet_where:
Ganymede
facet_what:
Galileo
facet_when_year:
1999
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap040502
