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Collection:
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NASA Solarsystem Collection
Collection
NASA Solarsystem Collection
Collection
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title:
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An Eruption on Io
title
An Eruption on Io
title
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description:
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The first images returned to Earth by New Horizons during its close encounter with Jupiter feature the Galilean moon Io, snapped with the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) at 0840 UTC on February 26, while the moon was 2.5 million miles (4 million kilometers) from the spacecraft.
Io is intensely heated by its tidal interaction with Jupiter and is thus extremely volcanically active. That activity is evident in these images, which reveal an enormous dust plume, more than 150 miles high, erupting from the volcano Tvashtar. The plume appears as an umbrella-shaped feature of the edge of Io's disk in the 11 o'clock position in the right image, which is a long-exposure (20-millisecond) frame designed specifically to look for plumes like this. The bright spots at 2 o'clock are high mountains catching the setting sun; beyond them the night side of Io can be seen, faintly illuminated by light reflected from Jupiter itself.
The left image is a shorter exposure -- 3 milliseconds -- designed to look at surface features. In this frame, the Tvashtar volcano shows as a dark spot, also at 11 o'clock, surrounded by a large dark ring, where an area larger than Texas has been covered by fallout from the giant eruption.
This is the clearest view yet of a plume from Tvashtar, one of Io's most active volcanoes. Ground-based telescopes and the Galileo Jupiter orbiter first spotted volcanic heat radiation from Tvashtar in November 1999, and the Cassini spacecraft saw a large plume when it flew past Jupiter in December 2000. The Keck telescope in Hawaii picked up renewed heat radiation from Tvashtar in spring 2006, and just two weeks ago the Hubble Space Telescope saw the Tvashtar plume in ultraviolet images designed to support the New Horizons flyby.
Most of those images will be stored onboard the spacecraft for downlink to Earth in March and April.
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
description
The first images returned to Earth by New Horizons during its close encounter with Jupiter feature the Galilean moon Io, snapped with the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) at 0840 UTC on February 26, while the moon was 2.5 million miles (4 million kilometers) from the spacecraft.
Io is intensely heated by its tidal interaction with Jupiter and is thus extremely volcanically active. That activity is evident in these images, which reveal an enormous dust plume, more than 150 miles high, erupting from the volcano Tvashtar. The plume appears as an umbrella-shaped feature of the edge of Io's disk in the 11 o'clock position in the right image, which is a long-exposure (20-millisecond) frame designed specifically to look for plumes like this. The bright spots at 2 o'clock are high mountains catching the setting sun; beyond them the night side of Io can be seen, faintly illuminated by light reflected from Jupiter itself.
The left image is a shorter exposure -- 3 milliseconds -- designed to look at surface features. In this frame, the Tvashtar volcano shows as a dark spot, also at 11 o'clock, surrounded by a large dark ring, where an area larger than Texas has been covered by fallout from the giant eruption.
This is the clearest view yet of a plume from Tvashtar, one of Io's most active volcanoes. Ground-based telescopes and the Galileo Jupiter orbiter first spotted volcanic heat radiation from Tvashtar in November 1999, and the Cassini spacecraft saw a large plume when it flew past Jupiter in December 2000. The Keck telescope in Hawaii picked up renewed heat radiation from Tvashtar in spring 2006, and just two weeks ago the Hubble Space Telescope saw the Tvashtar plume in ultraviolet images designed to support the New Horizons flyby.
Most of those images will be stored onboard the spacecraft for downlink to Earth in March and April.
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
description
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date:
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02.26.2007
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keywords:
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Solar System Exploration
keywords
Solar System Exploration
keywords
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keywords:
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SSE
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keywords:
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Space
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keywords:
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NASA
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keywords:
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
keywords
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
keywords
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keywords:
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JPL
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keywords:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory
keywords
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
keywords
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keywords:
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Planets
keywords
Planets
keywords
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facet_what:
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Earth
facet_what
Earth
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Moon
facet_what
Moon
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Sun
facet_what
Sun
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Galileo
facet_what
Galileo
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Jupiter
facet_what
Jupiter
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Cassini
facet_what
Cassini
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Imager
facet_what
Imager
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Io
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facet_what:
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New Horizons
facet_what
New Horizons
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Long Range Reconnaissance Imager
facet_what
Long Range Reconnaissance Imager
facet_what
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facet_what:
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LORRI
facet_what
LORRI
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Jupiter
facet_where
Jupiter
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Texas
facet_where
Texas
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Hawaii
facet_where
Hawaii
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
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facet_when:
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December 2000
facet_when
December 2000
facet_when
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facet_when:
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November 1999
facet_when
November 1999
facet_when
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facet_when:
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02-26-2007
facet_when
02-26-2007
facet_when
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facet_when_year:
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1999
facet_when_year
1999
facet_when_year
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facet_when_year:
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2000
facet_when_year
2000
facet_when_year
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facet_when_year:
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2007
facet_when_year
2007
facet_when_year
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UID:
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SPD-SLRSY-5143
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original url:
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original_url
original url
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