Mountains on Io (MULTISPECTRUM; credits: Lunexit)

Caption NASA:"This image taken by NASA's Galileo Spacecraft during its close flyby of Jupiter's moon Io on November 25, 1999 shows some of the curious mountains found there. The Sun is illuminating the scene from the left, and because it is setting, the Sun exaggerates the shadows cast by the mountains. By measuring the lengths of these shadows, Galileo scientists can estimate the height of the mountains. The mountain just left of the middle of the picture is 4 Km (13.000 feet) high and the small peak to the lower left is 1,6 Km (5000 feet) high.

These mountains, like others imaged during a previous Galileo flyby of Io in October '99, seem to be in the process of collapsing. Huge landslides have left piles of debris at the bases of the mountains. The ridges that parallel their margins are also indicative of material moving down the mountainsides due to gravity.

North is to the upper left of the picture. The image, centered at 8,1° South Latitude and 78,7° East Longitude, covers an area approx. 210-by-110 Km (such as about 130-by-70 miles). The resolution is 267 meters (880 feet) per picture element.

The image was taken at a range of approx. 25.000 Km (about 16.000 miles) by Galileo's onboard camera".