Saturday, May 21, 2011


While here on Earth the Icelanders are experiencing another volcanic eruption, on Jupiter's moon Io there are two sulfurous eruptions occurring simultaneously. On the top of the photo you can see a bluish plume that rises 140 km above the moon's surface, while in the middle near the transition between night and day, another large eruption s coming up directly towards the viewer from the circular feature.

Note that the lower plume actually casts a visible shadow on the planet's surface! This eruption has been seen in every picture ever taken of this side of Io since the Voyager spacecraft first came this way in 1979, strongly suggesting a continuous eruption for at least that long!


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