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| ~* Starwatchers with Ackers *~ |
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| For any questions whether a beginner or advanced you can e-mail me and your questions with my answers will be posted on the Starwatchers' Mailbag page or leave a comment or questionaire right here on the site (see below) until next time happy starwatching ackers (Ian) |
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| credits; Hubble Gallery |
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| ~* Starwatchers with Ackers *~ |
| Jupiter's Moon Io |
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| Io is roughly the size of Earth's moon but 2,000 times farther away. In two of the images, Io appears to be skimming Jupiter's cloud tops, but it's actually 310,000 miles (500,000 kilometers) away. Io zips around Jupiter in 1.8 days, whereas the moon circles Earth every 28 days. |
| Io Profile |
| Mass (kg) Diameter (km) Mean density (gm/cm3) Escape velocity (km/sec) Average distance from Sun (AU) Mass (Earth = 1) Rotational period (days) Orbit speed (km/sec) Orbit inclination (degrees) Orbit eccentricity Orbital period (days) Distance from Jupiter (km) Surface composition Mean distance from Jupiter (km) Typical Subsolar Temperature (K) Typical Hotspot Temperature (K) |
| 8.94x1022 3,630 3.57 2.02 5.20 0.014960 1.769138 17.34 0.040 0.0041 31.769138 670,900 Sulphur 421,600 135 300 |
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| Nine previously unknown volcanoes have been discovered from this infrared image of Jupiter's moon Io, acquired by NASA's Galileo spacecraft on Oct. 16, 2001. The infrared image,on the right serves as a thermal map to a section of Io's surface from pole to pole. An image from Galileo's camera showing the same face of Io (left) is included for correlating the heat-sensing infrared data with geological features apparent in visible wavelengths. The infrared image uses false color to portray the intensity with which the surface glows at the invisible wavelength of 5 microns, as observed by Galileo's near infrared mapping spectrometer instrument. White, reds and yellows indicate hotter regions; blues are cold. The resolution varies from 24 to 39 kilometers (15 to 24 miles) per picture element. Io, the most volcanic body in the solar system, is seen in front of Jupiter's cloudy atmosphere in this image from NASA's Galileo spacecraft, now orbiting the giant planet. This newly processed image is the best and highest resolution view of Io produced thus far by Galileo. Galileo was about 487,000 kilometers (about 302,000 miles) from Io when this was taken on September 7, 1996, and Jupiter was about 908,000 kilometers (about 564,000 miles) away. |