Photographed: the Yellowish, Blistery Volcano Surface of Jupiter's Moon Io
Surface of Io The U.S. Geological Survey released the first complete geologic map of Io. This is a true color image. Click here to embiggen. USGS This oozy, pockmarked image is the surface of Jupiter's moon Io, from the first complete geologic map of the turbulent orb. Io is the most volcanically active place in the solar system, so it's of great interest to geologists because its surface is continually refreshing and renewing. It's the only celestial body where scientists have not seen any impact craters. The U.S. Geological Survey published the Io map using data from four image mosaics, produced by the Voyager and Galileo missions. David Williams, a faculty research associate in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, spent six years breaking the mosaics down to 19 different types of surface material. The map can now be used as a benchmark for further...