A Jupiter-Io Montage from New Horizons
As the New Horizons spacecraft sweeps through the Solar System,
it is taking breathtaking images of the planets.
In February of last year,
New Horizons
passed Jupiter and the ever-active Jovian moon
Io.
In this
montage, Jupiter was captured in three bands of
infrared light making
the Great Red Spot look white.
Complex
hurricane-like ovals, swirls, and
planet-ringing bands are visible in
Jupiter's complex atmosphere.
Io is
digitally
superposed in natural color.
Fortuitously, a plume was emanating from
Io's volcano
Tvashtar.
Frost and sulfuric lava cover the volcanic moon, while
red-glowing lava
is visible beneath the
blue sunlight-scattering plume.
The robotic
New Horizons spacecraft
is on track to arrive at
Pluto in 2015.