Source image: GIF (215K) TIF (1.0M)
Volcanic calderas, lava flows and cliffs are seen in this
false color image of a region near the south pole of Jupiter’s
volcanic moon Io. It was created by combining a black and white
image taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft on February 22, 2000
with lower resolution color images taken by Galileo on July 3,
1999. The three black spots (top center and middle left) are
small volcanic calderas about 10-20 kilometers (6-12 miles) in
size, which are dark because their floors are covered by recent
lava flows. Two of these three calderas are surrounded by
diffuse dark material, which may have been thrown out of the
calderas by explosive eruptions.
The bright, white material is thought to be sulfur-dioxide
frost and is concentrated near the cliffs in this image. It may
be formed when liquid sulfur dioxide seeps out at the base of
mountain scarps, vaporizes into a plume of gas, liquid and solid,
and then condenses again on the surface. Part of this process,
called sapping, occurs in arid environments on Earth when ground
water seeps out at the bases of cliffs. The vaporization and
production of plumes is much more dramatic on Io due to the lower
gravitational acceleration and especially the very low
atmospheric pressure. It may be one of the dominant erosion
processes on Io.
The mountain at the center left, named Telegonus Mensae,
exhibits a number of ridges parallel to its margins. These
ridges have been observed on a number of other Ionian mountains
and they suggest that as the mountain ages, it is collapsing
outward under the influence of gravity.
The yellow lava flow at the southern end of the image
appears to be fed by a dark channel that connects to a dark
caldera. This is a likely candidate for a lava flow composed of
sulfur (rather than silicate material).
The image is centered at 53.8 degrees south latitude and
117.1 degrees west longitude and north is to the top. The higher
resolution image has a resolution of 350 meters (or yards) per
picture element and is illuminated from the upper left. It was
taken at a range of 34,000 kilometers (21,000 miles). The color
images have resolutions of 1.3 kilometers (0.81 miles) per
picture element and are illuminated from almost directly behind
the spacecraft. They were taken at a distance of about 130,000
kilometers (81,000 miles) by Galileo’s onboard camera.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the
Galileo mission for NASA’s Office of Space Science, Washington,
DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA.
This image and other images and data received from Galileo
are posted on the Galileo mission home page at
http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov . Background information and
educational context for the images can be found at
http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/io/ioimages.html .
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