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The Gemini North Observatory made a groundbreaking discovery when it captured the rise and fall of the atmosphere surrounding Io, one of Jupiter’s moons. At the time, Io was more than 420 million miles from Earth. When Io moves into the planet’s shadow, the temperature drop causes Io’s atmosphere to collapse.
As the moon emerges from the shadow, the atmosphere redevelops. This illustration shows Io, the most volcanically active object in the solar system, reconstituting its atmosphere with volcanic plumes.Image credit: Southwest Research Institute
