Jupiter’s Io Observed by Spacecraft

Discovered by Galileo in 1610, Io, Jupiter’s third-largest moon, played a significant role in the adoption of the Copernican model of the Solar System, the development of Kepler’s laws of motion, and the first measurement of the speed of light. In 2001, the unmanned spacecraft Galileo came within 112 miles of Io, transmitting images of some of its numerous erupting volcanoes, hundreds of miles of lava flows, and plumes of sulfur. Why was the craft later destroyed in space?

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Jupiter’s Io Observed by Spacecraft