Tides of Fire
This picture shows Jupiter seen from the surface of its closest Galilean moon, Io. Because Io is so
close to Jupiter, it is constantly engaged in a tug-of-war with the planet's considerable gravity.
On Earth, the Moon's gravitational pull, and to a lesser extent the Sun's, are responsible for the
oceans' tides. However, on Io, the Jupiter-induced tides are so strong that the little moon is
literally being turned inside out – in the form of volcanoes. Io is the most volcanically active
object known to exist in the entire Solar System. A slightly modified version of this image made the
cover of the May 2000 issue of the US magazine
Asimov's Science Fiction.
Original acrylic for sale. Please
contact me for details.