Io: The Prometheus Plume
This picture is of Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io, taken by the Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. It was taken in 1997 from 600,000 kilometers away, and has since been digitallys sharpened. Two sulfurous eruptions were captured in this image. Over Pillan Patera, a volcanic caldera, a florescent blue plume can be seen. This plume rises about 140 kilometers over the Io's surface. Another ring shaped plume is visible toward the center of the image. This is known as the Prometheus plume, after the Greek God who gave mortals fire. In every image ever taken of this region, the Prometheus plume has been visible. Since our first image was taken in 1979 during the Voyager flybys, we know that this plume has been active for at least 18 years. In recent years, research has uncovered evidence that there is a magma ocean under Io's surface! With as quickly as technology is progressing, I can only imagine what we will uncover about space in a few years!
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