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Top 10 Science Images

Galileo Image Gallery
Top 10 Science Images

The following 10 images document the most significant discoveries of the Galileo mission.

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Jovian Lightning and Moonlit Clouds
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Jovian Lightning and Moonlit Clouds

These two images were taken 75 minutes apart and show lightning storms on the night-side of Jupiter along with clouds that are dimly lit by moonlight from lo, Jupiter's closest moon. Bright storms can be seen at two latitudes in the left image, and at three latitudes in the right image. Each storm was made visible by multiple lightning strikes during the exposure. The images show that jovian and terrestrial lightning storms have similar flash rates, but that jovian lightning strikes are several factors of ten brighter that those on the Earth. The images were taken on October 5th and 6th, 1997, at a range of 6.6 million kilometers (4.1 million miles) by the Solid State Imaging System on NASA's Galileo spacecraft.

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Last Updated: 28 Jun 2010