Let's help NASA keep NASA accountable for disclosure of pertinent information. (Mitch Battros, ECTV)

NASA’s Galileo spacecraft will make two daring passes less than 400 miles above the volcanic dynamo of a moon called Io next Sunday, Oct. 10, and on Nov. 25, Thanksgiving Day. Jupiter’s innermost moon, Io, is roughly the size of Earth’s moon. Surface temperatures are very, very cold – 150 degrees below zero Celsius. Yet Io is pocked by the hottest spots in the solar system -- volcanoes hotter than 1,500 degrees Celsius spew plumes of sulfurous gases nearly 200 miles into space.
The bizarre, colorful world is a dramatically fast-changing one, according to new pictures from the Galileo Solid State Imaging Team being released today. Scientists and students at the University of Arizona who processed and analyzed the images include –

* Alfred S. McEwen, 520-621-4573,  < mcewen@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu >

* Laszlo Keszthelyi, 520-621-8284,  < lpk@lpl.arizona.edu >

* Paul Geissler, 520-621-2114,  < geissler@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu >

* Elizabeth Turtle, 520-621-8284,  < turtle@lpl.arizona.edu >

* Cynthia Phillips, 520-621-6950,  < phillips@lpl.arizona.edu >

* Moses Milazzo, 520-621-6950,  < mmilazzo@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu >

* Jani Radebaugh, 520-621-1632,  < jani@lpl.arizona.edu >

Michael J. S. Belton of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson heads the Galileo Solid State Imaging Team.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., today is releasing seven new images of Io. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the Galileo mission for NASA. The new photos show:

* Trajectories for the upcoming Galileo – Io flybys

* A set of three images that show dramatic changes have occurred over the past three years at Io’s volcanically active Pillan Patera region.

* A 60-mile high plume of gas and particles ejected from the Masubi region.

* A set of four Galileo images that show ephemeral deposits from fast-migrating plumes in the Masubi region.

* A new high-resolution, close-up view of the volcano "Zamama," where lava appears to be erupting from a crack in the ground.

* The highest-resolution picture ever taken of Prometheus. Some call Prometheus "the Old Faithful of the outer solar system" because its volcanic plume has been visible every time it has been searched for since Voyager discovered it in 1979.

* A high-resolution picture of a pair of volcanic features called "Amirani-Maui" – the longest active lava flow known to exist in our solar system.

The UA Galileo imaging team scientists have posted these images and information on their web site,
< http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/PIRL/Galileo/Releases >.
 

Mitch Battros
Producer - Earth Changes TV
http://www.earthchangesTV.com