APAS 1110 Summer 1996
Cool Image of the Day -- June 20
This dramatic view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and its surroundings was obtained by Voyager 1 on Feb. 25, 1979, when the spacecraft was 9.2 million kilometers (5.7 million miles) from Jupiter. Cloud details as small as 160 kilometers (100 miles) across can be seen here. The colorful, wavy cloud pattern to the left of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily complex and variable wave motion. Two of its satellites are visible, Io on the left and Europa on the right. Io is about 350,000 km (217,000 mi) above Jupiter's Great Red Spot; Europa is about 600,000 km (372,000 mi) above Jupiter's clouds. Although both satellites have about the same brightness, Io's color is different from Europa's. Io's equatorial region shows two shades of red, possibly indicating different surface materials. (Courtesy NASA/JPL).
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