A great photo and an interesting site Astronomy Picture of the Day [2]. Check it out
[3]
Click on the picture for a larger image or the link above.
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 [4] passed Jupiter and the ever-active Jovian moon Io [5]. In this montage [6], Jupiter was captured in three bands of infrared light [7] making the Great Red Spot [8] look white. Complex hurricane-like ovals [9], swirls, and planet-ringing bands are visible in Jupiter’s complex atmosphere [10]. Io is digitally [6] superposed in natural color. Fortuitously, a plume was emanating from Io [11]‘s volcano Tvashtar [12]. Frost and sulfuric lava cover the volcanic moon, while red-glowing lava [13] is visible beneath the blue sunlight-scattering [14] plume. The robotic New Horizons spacecraft [15] is on track to arrive at Pluto [16] in 2015.
Hat Tip: Jerry Pournelle [17]
