MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
Contact: Jane Platt (818) 354-0880
IMAGE ADVISORY
Lava flows, cliffs and depressions from collapsed volcanic
eruptions are seen in new images of Jupiter’s moon Io, taken by
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft during its most recent flyby on
February 22. The new pictures give scientists more information
to help them in their ongoing quest to understand the rampant,
fiery volcanic activity on Io and its similarities to past and
present volcanism on Earth.
The new images are available online at the following
website:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/jovianmoons
The new batch of images also includes a high-resolution view
of the side of Europa that faces Jupiter. That hemisphere shows
variations in surface materials that may indicate the presence of
sulfuric acid (common battery acid) and salty minerals, possibly
from a subsurface ocean.
Galileo has been orbiting Jupiter and its moons since
December 1995. After its primary mission ended in December 1997,
Galileo successfully completed a two-year extended mission, and
it is currently embarking on another extension, called the
Galileo Millennium Mission.
More information about the Galileo mission is available at:
JPL manages Galileo for NASA’ s Office of Space Science,
Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute
of Technology, Pasadena, CA.
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4/18/00 JP
