Montage of images of Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io

Infrared Jupiter, erupting Io

As it’s World Space Week, we’re featuring this montage of images of Jupiter, taken in 2007 on a flyby of the planet by the New Horizons probe. If Jupiter looks a little different than usual, it’s because the image was taken using the space probe’s near-infrared imaging spectrometer. In this false-colour image, Jupiter’s high-altitude clouds, like its stormy Great Red Spot, are rendered white, while deeper cloud formations take on reddish hues.

The planet's innermost moon, Io, is captured in a true-colour composite image during one of its frequent volcanic eruptions. A close look will show lava is glowing red beneath the blue and white plume of particles being ejected into the moon’s thin atmosphere.

Space Week is a UN-recognised event that runs each year from 4 October, the anniversary of the launch of Sputnik in 1957, to 10 October, which is the anniversary of the signing of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967.