This view of the Moon's north pole is a mosaic assembled from 18 images taken by Galileo's imaging system through a green filter as the spacecraft flew by on December 7, 1992. The left part of the Moon is visible from Earth; this region includes the dark, lava-filled Mare Imbrium (upper left); Mare Serenitatis (middle left); Mare Tranquillitatis (lower left), and Mare Crisium, the dark circular feature toward the bottom of the mosaic. Also visible in this view are the dark lava plains of the Marginis and Smythii Basins at the lower right. The Humboldtianum Basin, a 650-kilometer (400-mile) impact structure partly filled with dark volcanic deposits, is seen at the center of the image. The Moon's north pole is located just inside the shadow zone, about a third of the way from the top left of the illuminated region.
NASA Media Usage Guidelines
Credit: NASA/JPL
Image Number: PIA00130
Date: December 7, 1992
Tags: Earth Moon Galileo Mare Tranquilitatis Imbrium Serenitatis Crisium Marginis Smythii Humbold Basin North Pole Lava Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL
In the Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) at the Kennedy Space Center, the spacecraft Galileo is prepared for mating with the Inertial Upper Stage booster. Galileo was launched on Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-34) on October 18, 1989. It arrived at Jupiter in December 1995.
NASA Media Usage Guidelines
Credit: NASA
Image Number: 89PC-0732
Date: August 3, 1989
Tags: Galileo STS-34 Atlantis Vertical Processing Facility VPF
NASA's Galileo spacecraft acquired its highest resolution images of Jupiter's moon Io on July 3, 1999 during its closest pass to Io since orbit insertion in late 1995. This color mosaic uses the near-infrared, green and violet filters (slightly more than the visible range) of the spacecraft's camera and approximates what the human eye would see. Most of Io's surface has pastel colors, punctuated by black, brown, green, orange, and red units near the active volcanic centers. A false color version of the mosaic has been created to enhance the contrast of the color variations.
The improved resolution reveals small-scale color units which had not been recognized previously and which suggest that the lavas and sulfurous deposits are composed of complex mixtures. Some of the bright (whitish), high-latitude (near the top and bottom) deposits have an ethereal quality like a transparent covering of frost. Bright red areas were seen previously only as diffuse deposits. However, they are now seen to exist as both diffuse deposits and sharp linear features like fissures. Some volcanic centers have bright and colorful flows, perhaps due to flows of sulfur rather than silicate lava. In this region bright, white material can also be seen to emanate from linear rifts and cliffs.
Comparison of this image to previous Galileo images reveals many changes due to the ongoing volcanic activity. North is towards the top of the picture and the sun illuminates the surface from almost directly behind the spacecraft. This illumination geometry is good for imaging color variations, but poor for imaging topographic shading. However, some topographic shading can be seen here due to the combination of relatively high resolution (1.3 kilometers or 0.8 miles per picture element) and the rugged topography over parts of Io. The image is centered at 0.3 degrees north latitude and 137.5 degrees west longitude. The resolution is 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) per picture element.
The images were taken on July 3, 1999 at a range of about 130,000 kilometers (81,000 miles) by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its twenty-first orbit. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California managed the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.
NASA Media Usage Guidelines
Credit: NASA/JPL
Image Number: PIA02308
Date: July 3, 1989
Tags: Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL Galileo Io
A parachute for the Galileo spacecraft is tested in a wind tunnel. Galileo consisted of an orbiter and an atmosphere probe that descended into Jupiter's atmosphere on a parachute after being braked by a heat shield.
Image # : L-1983-03654
Tags: Atmosphere Probe Parachute Galileo Langley
This gold aluminum cover was designed to protect the Voyager 1 and 2 "Sounds of Earth" gold-plated records from micrometeorite bombardment, but also serves a double purpose in providing the finder a key to playing the record. The explanatory diagram appears on both the inner and outer surfaces of the cover, as the outer diagram will be eroded in time. Flying aboard Voyagers 1 and 2 are identical "golden" records, carrying the story of Earth far into deep space. The 12 inch gold-plated copper discs contain greetings in 60 languages, samples of music from different cultures and eras, and natural and man-made sounds from Earth. They also contain electronic information that an advanced technological civilization could convert into diagrams and photographs.
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image Number: p24652b
Date:
Tags: Carl Sagan Gold Record JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Sounds of Earth Voyager