The image of Io above was taken by the New Horizons probe as it recently sped through the Jupiter system on it’s way to Pluto. The image was taken with the spacecrafts Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) from a distance of 2.5 million kilometers. Clearly visible in the 11 o’clock position of the Jovian moon is a gigantic volcanic plume from the volcano Tvashtar, the plume in the image is about 290 km high and was first spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope. Two other volcanic plumes are also visible in the above image as are several Everest sized mountains along the terminator.

The New Horizons probe was launched January 19, 2006 and is expected to reach Pluto in July 2015, after that the probe will head into the Kuiper Belt.

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