Storm Gallery

Jupiter and Io, New Horizons image

Jupiter and Io. Montage of images of Jupiter (left) and its moon Io (right), obtained by the New Horizons spacecraft in February and March 2007 as it passed Jupiter on its way to Pluto. The image of Jupiter was obtained with its infrared spectrometer (LEISA). The different colours show high-altitude clouds (blue), and deeper clouds (red). The Great Red Spot (lower left) is blue and white. The Io image was obtained in approximate true colour with a long-range camera (LORRI) and a multispectral camera (MVIC). The red dot on the nightside of Io is an eruption of the Tvashtar volcano. The volcanic plume (blue) seen above the eruption is 330 kilometres high. Jupiter is the solar system's largest planet

© NASA/JHU/APL/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Solar prominence

Solar prominence. Ultraviolet SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite image of a solar prominence (bottom left). The prominence is erupting from the chromosphere (orange), which lies above the Sun's visible surface. Prominences are dense clouds of plasma, or ionised gas, in the Sun's outer layer, the corona. They are typically at temperatures of 60, 000 Kelvin, much cooler than the several million Kelvin of the corona. Active regions (white) mark areas of high solar activity. The Sun's activity peaks every 10-11 years. Image produced by SOHO's Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT)

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Hurricane Floyd

Hurricane Floyd. Coloured three-dimensional computer image, based on satellite data, of Hurricane Floyd. The hurricane is the white swirl of clouds in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida (top left), USA. North is towards top right. Land is green/brown and water is blue. The winds in this hurricane reached over 225 kilometres per hour. After devastating the Bahamas, Hurricane Floyd hit Florida on September 16th, going on to cause 40 deaths. Hurricanes are caused by massive evaporation and convection over warm tropical seas. Image taken at 12:59 GMT on 14 September 1999 by an American NOAA satellite

© Nasa/Goddard Space Flight Center/Science Photo Library