Io: Brought to you by the moon Ganymede and planet Jupiter.

Jupiter and its moon Ganymede have teamed up to help astronomers obtain a rare view of another jovian moon, Io. University of California at Berkeley astronomer Imke de Pater and her colleagues took infrared images used to measure the temperatures of lava flows at dozens of Io's volcanoes. Io is the most geologically active object in the solar system. Interior heat, generated by tidal forces "kneading" the satellite, drives flows of molten magma to the surface. The resulting lava flows glow in the infrared. This wavelength of light does not pass easily through Earth's atmosphere and can be observed only by satellites or high-altitude telescopes like the 10-meter Keck II, on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, that de Pater and colleagues utilized.