Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Io in True Color

NASA ^ | March 30, 2014 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: The strangest moon in the Solar System is bright yellow. This picture, an attempt to show how Io would appear in the "true colors" perceptible to the average human eye, was taken in 1999 July by the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Io's colors derive from sulfur and molten silicate rock. The unusual surface of Io is kept very young by its system of active volcanoes. The intense tidal gravity of Jupiter stretches Io and damps wobbles caused by Jupiter's other Galilean moons. The resulting friction greatly heats Io's interior, causing molten rock to explode through the surface. Io's volcanoes are so active that they are effectively turning the whole moon inside out. Some of Io's volcanic lava is so hot it glows in the dark.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA]

[SunkenCiv]

Io, as they used to say on the Johnny Carson show.

The Big One

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[The Cajun]

Dang, looks like Jupiter got sick one day and...............

[Jack Hydrazine]

Looks like a place where Riddick would end up on.

[CivilWarBrewing]

Cheese ball, mmmmmmmmmm:

[Mastador1]

It kind of looks like a faded out old superball I used to have as kid, right down to the pock marks from the dogs teeth!

[BenLurkin]

If he owned Io and hell. He’d rent Io out - and live in hell.

[BlueDragon]

That photo is along the lines of what came to mind when seeing the 'real color' image of Io;

Say Cheese !

[dr_lew]

Here's Io in the 1980 NASA publication, Voyage to Jupiter. I suppose it's a fairly subtle adjustment, in technical terms, to make the transition from this red-orange image to the yellow image of the APOD. I think it's bound to be a problematical question how it would actually appear to a person somehow situated to observe it directly.

Anyway, I'll always think of it as "The Pizza Planet" !

[onyx]

Thank you both so much!!!

[saganite]

Stinky cheese!

[grimalkin]

It probably smells like eggs. Sulfur is stinky.

[RandallFlagg]

I can’t see Sean Connery from here.

(Reference to the 1981 movie Outland)

[fieldmarshaldj]

Old McDonald had a moon, Eee-i, eee, Io.

(sorry)

[left that other site]

I hate it when they burn the edges of the crust like that. :-)

[rarestia]

Some of Io's volcanic lava is so hot it glows in the dark.

Huh? Umm, it's lava. Doesn't all lava glow? Or am I missing something?

[Hot Tabasco]

Looks like they found my old bowling ball I threw in the lake about 45 years ago........

[NativeSon]

ALL THESE WORLDS
ARE YOURS EXCEPT
EUROPA Io
ATTEMPT NO
LANDING THERE

[PistolPaknMama]

Huh, I knew I recognized that!

[TheOldLady]

Thank you for the ping, Mr. Civilizations.

It’s interesting to see what tidal forces can do when there are enough moons
involved to generate friction, not to forget Jupiter itself.

Nice picture as well.