Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Io's Pele Hemisphere from Galileo

Io's Pele Hemisphere from Galileo
Io's Pele Hemisphere from Galileo A global view of Jupiter's moon Io obtained during the tenth orbit of Jupiter by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 1999. NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

From NASA:

In this enhanced color composite, deposits of sulfur dioxide frost appear in white and grey hues while yellowish and brownish hues are probably due to other sulfurous materials. Bright red materials, such as the prominent ring surrounding the volcano Pele, and "black" spots with low brightness mark areas of recent volcanic activity and are usually associated with high temperatures and surface changes. One of the most dramatic changes is the appearance of a new dark spot (upper right edge of Pele), 400 kilometers (250 miles) in diameter which surrounds a volcanic center named Pillan Patera. The dark spot did not exist in images obtained 5 months earlier, but Galileo imaged a 120 kilometer (75 mile) high plume erupting from this location during its ninth orbit.