Day two of Io. The notion that someday we might see the surface of Io set me to finding all of the photo sites NASA has on it, and seeing what we do know. This seems to be the best we have.
The sun is "setting" here from the left and so scientists could take a look at the ridges in the mountains there, and somehow determine that those mountains are COLLAPSING.
Also, there are no craters on Io because it's so volcanic. It's rebuilding its surface all the time.
The fact that it's black and white disguises the color, which almost made me not post it, feeling like it's not representative, feeling like I don't understand it well enough. Other photos of sections of Io are bright orange or yellow.
Related links:
http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/missi...ongibello.html
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02520