October 16, 2001
You were born on a tiny world orbiting an ordinary star in an unremarkable galaxy — and yet, the fact that you exist at all is the most...
A Newly Active Volcano on Jupiter's Io
Birthday · October 16, 2001
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APOD published October 16, 2001. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Would a volcano plume discovered in January above Jupiter's Moon Io still be active months later? To answer this question, the robot spacecraft Galileo currently in orbit around Jupiter was maneuvered to image the plume site during its recent flyby of Io in August. What was found was the highest volcano plume yet discovered -- but above a completely different and previously undocumented volcano! The original plume, above the Tvashtar Catena volcanic area, was not even visible. A picture taken in January of the area surrounding the Tvashtar Catena eruption is shown above in enhanced color, with a new picture taken in August shown in the inset. Careful inspection of the two images will show a newly prominent dark volcano surrounded by a light-colored ring visible only in the smaller, more recent image.