NASA releases a new image showing Jupiter's moon Io rising just off the horizon of the gas giant planet
The image was captured by Juno spacecraft in October during its 16th close flyby of the Jupiter
NASA has shared a colour-enhanced image, which shows Jupiter's moon Io rising just off the horizon of the gas giant planet.
According to NASA, this image was captured by its Juno spacecraft at 2:26 pm Pacific Daylight Time (5:56 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) on 29 October 2018, during Juno's 16th close flyby of the Jupiter. Juno was flying about 18,400 kilometres from the planet's cloud tops when it captured the image.
The colour-enhanced image of Jupiter and Io has been processed by citizen scientists Justin Cowart and Gerald Eichstadt, who enhanced a raw image of JunoCam imager. The processed image has been rotated about 155 degrees from the source image.
NASA has made JunoCam's raw images available online for the public. The space agency encourages citizen scientists to process and enhance these images.
Jupiter's moon Io was discovered in 1610. It is the third largest of Jupiter's moon, and is slightly larger than the Earth's moon. It is most volcanically active world in the solar system, featuring over 400 volcanoes. Some volcanoes on Io are so powerful that they can be seen from Earth using large telescopes. Io also features lakes of molten silicate lava on its surface. The atmosphere on Io is very thin, primarily made of sulphur dioxide.
NASA launched Juno spacecraft in August 2011 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This mission is part of NASA's New Frontiers programme and aims to provide a better understanding of the origin and evolution of Jupiter - the largest planet of the solar system.
The spacecraft arrived at Jupiter on July 2016, and is currently orbiting this planet to measure its composition, magnetic field, gravity field, and polar magnetosphere. The spacecraft also looks for clues about the formation of the planet, presence of any rocky core, and the amount of water present within the deep atmosphere.
The Juno mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.