New Horizons provided detailed pictures of Jupiter system

4th March 2007

Spacecraft New Horizons meant to study Pluto flew by Jupiter and transmitted new images of this planet system. The pictures made by LORRY camera show the gas giant and the recently formed on it Small Red Blotch as well as satellites Ganymede, Europe and Io. On the image of Io one can see the most active volcano known as Twashtar. It is located on the eleven hours line from the centre of Io circle and represents a dark stain, surrounded by a large dark ring. The image is the clearest of all showing emission plume of volcanic eruptions, says NASA official site. Due to flying over the largest planets in the solar system New Horizons increased its speed to 14,500 km / h and continued towards its prime aim at a speed of about 84,000 km / h. Thus, New Horizons has become the most high-speed spacecraft in the solar system. The information gathered by the sonde while its last maneuver will be referred to Earth in March 2007. New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2007 from the Canaveral Cape cosmodrome. The spacecraft will reach Pluto in 2015. The sonde is equipped with various devices to study the structure, the composition of the surface, atmospheric pressure and temperature of the â€œdwarfâ€ planet.