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The Galileo probe has travelled almost three billion miles since its launch in 1989

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243 Ida is an asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter - it became the second of only four asteroids studied up close when Galileo encountered it in 1993

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Galileo has been carrying out its lonely tour of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, for eight years

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Jupiter's famous red spot is a storm of massive proportions that has been raging on the surface of the gas giant for hundreds of years

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Io, the innermost of Jupiter's Galilean moons, is slightly larger than our own moon and primarily composed of molten silicate rock

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Galileo was able to send back fantastic images of sulphur plumes erupting from the moon's surface into space

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The sun sets on the Loki volcanic area on Io - Loki is said to be the most powerful volcano in the solar system - emitting more heat than all of Earth's volcanoes combined

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In stark contrast the surface of Europa is believed to be covered in a layer of ice

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The moon's smooth surface has led to speculation that underneath the sheath of ice lays a life-sustaining liquid sea

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This pockmarked yet beautiful surface is that of the moon Callisto - the most crater-covered satellite in the solar system

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Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, is the first moon discovered to have its own magnetic field - another first for Galileo