Montage of images of Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io
© NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Goddard Space Flight Cente
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.
Related Images
Andromeda galaxy
Frozen Abraham Lake, Alberta, Canada
Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635)
A nighttime view of the Gulf Coast states from 225 miles above Earth
Photo of the moon's surface through a telescope
The Pillars of Creation viewed by the James Webb Space Telescope
Moons of Jupiter - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto
Young stars forming in the Tarantula Nebula, James Webb Space Telescope
Bing Today Images
