14 DAY TRIAL // This impressive montage of Jupiter and its moon Io first appeared on the cover of the Science magazine on its October 12, 2007, issue. It was made up of images collected by the NASA New Horizons space probe, which is currently on its way to Pluto. It will reach its destination in early 2015.
The spacecraft carried out a flyby of Jupiter in early 2007, using the gas giant's gravity to increase its own speed via the slingshot effect. At the point of closest approach, it used its Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array instrument to take an infrared, color composite image of the planet.
The tool is a near-infrared imaging spectrometer, NASA experts say. On the other hand, Io is depicted in a true-color composite image, which was collected by the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager and the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera instruments on New Horizons.
According to scientists, the bright flash that is apparent on the night side of Io is caused by the eruption of Tvashtar, one of the moon's hundreds of active volcanoes. Io is widely considered to be the most volcanically-active body in the solar system.