I know that this was like, over a week ago... but it's still so cool that we actually have a picture of a volcano explosion on JUPITER'S MOON! I have included the link to the article and the picture at the bottom.
Originally the spacecraft that took this picture, is on it's way to the non-planet Pluto and it's moon-like body, Charon... but along the way it is taking some pictures of the other planets and the moons of those planets. Scientists are being continuously surprised at the quality and the details of the pictures they are getting from the New Horizons spacecraft.
Another amazing feature of just what's out there... these are volcanoes that are erupting on IO, due to the forces of Jupiter and the other moons acting on IO, but the volcanoes are nothing like what we see here on Earth. Our volcanoes spew rather infrequently (although, yes, they are being predicted by volcanologists), but the extent of the explosion is only within a couple of miles of Earth, and we have more glassy types of fragments and silicate type materials coming from our volcanoes. On IO, the explosions are occurring all of the time on the planet, and spew up almost 200 miles into the "air". And the main thing, these explosions are more of a sulfurous material, and fall more like snow onto the surface due to the coldness of the atmosphere surrounding IO.
WOW. Science is just so cool. :D
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/09mar_alienvolcano.htm?list14592
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