This global mosaic shows the highest resolution Galileo images available of Jupiter's moon, Io. North is to the top of the picture. The images, obtained at low sun illumination angles (high sun-target-spacecraft angles) which emphasize topographic shadows, were taken by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft over the course of several orbits. The grid identifies the names and locations of several of Io's main features. Several active but as yet unnamed volcanic features are indicated by arrows. While volcanic centers are rather evenly distributed, almost all of the active plumes and long-lived hot spots seen over the span of NASA's Galileo mission at Jupiter or during the flyby's of NASA's Voyager spacecraft in 1979 are within 30 degrees of the equator.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.
This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URLhttp://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galileo/. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo.