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Jupiter

Io Transit of Jupiter
The volcanic moon IO rounding Jupiter. Io is roughly the size of Earth's moon but 2,000 times farther away. In two of the images, Io appears to be skimming Jupiter's cloud tops, but it's actually 310,000 miles (500,000 kilometers) away. Io zips around Jupiter in 1.8 days, whereas the moon circles Earth every 28 days.

The conspicuous black spot on Jupiter is Io's shadow and is about the size of the moon itself (2,262 miles or 3,640 kilometers across). This shadow sails across the face of Jupiter at 38,000 mph (17 kilometers per second). The smallest details visible on Io and Jupiter measure 93 miles (150 kilometers) across, or about the size of Connecticut.

Internet Explorer users
   Right Click on the image and select Set as Background.

Netscape Navigator users
   Right Click on the image and select Set as Wallpaper.

Mac users
   Hold down the mouse button over the image and wait for the menu.
   Choose Save Image As.
   Open the control panel to Desktop Pictures.
   Click Select Picture and load the file you just saved.
   Choose Position Automatically.


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