Jupiter hides a hellish world. Io, its satellite, has the most active volcanoes in the entire Solar System. Detailed images captured by the Juno probe reveal that Io’s entire surface is covered in bubbling lava lakes.
An infrared image of Io captured by Juno. NASA PHOTO
Named Io, after a priestess in Greek mythology, this moon has always piqued the curiosity of scientists. With about 400 active volcanoes, the spectacular eruptions of lava and gases make Io a veritable volcano factory, according to sciencealert.com
Thanks to the JIRAM instrument on board the Juno probe, which studies the planet Jupiter and its surroundings, researchers can now take a closer look at this fascinating and dangerous world.
“The high resolution of JIRAM’s infrared images, combined with the favorable positioning of the Juno probe during flybys of Io, revealed that the entire surface of the moon is covered by lava lakes in craters similar to terrestrial volcanic calderas.”explains astrophysicist Alessandro Mura from the National Institute of Astrophysics in Italy.
Its orbit around Jupiter is not perfectly circular, meaning that the attraction between the moon and the planet varies in intensity. In addition, Jupiter’s other Galilean moons—Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede—also exert a gravitational influence on Io.
This constant gravitational conflict generates tensions inside Io, producing intense heat that erupts as active volcanoes. Basically, the little moon is a real “hot potato” space.
Many aspects related to the manifestation of volcanism on the surface remain a mystery, experts say.
As the Juno probe surveys the space around Jupiter, it makes dangerous passes by the gas giant’s moons, collecting data of unprecedented precision. A recent set of such maneuvers revealed the moon Io in stunning detail.
The detailed images showed plumes of smoke from actual volcanic eruptions and incandescent lava lakes on the surface. Now scientists have analyzed the data captured by JIRAM, revealing the thermal signature of Io’s surface.
“The high spatial resolution of JIRAM’s infrared images, combined with Juno’s favorable position during the flyby, showed that the entire surface of Io is covered by lava lakes,” says astrophysicist Alessandro Mura of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy .
The study confirmed the presence of lava lakes with a specific structure: an outer ring of hot liquid lava, a solidified crust in the center of the lake and high walls formed of solidified lava, which delimit the volcanic basin. This discovery reveals the dominant form of volcanic activity on Io.
“The observations reveal fascinating new information about Io’s volcanic processes. Combining these new results with Juno’s longer-term campaign to monitor and map volcanoes at Io’s previously unseen north and south poles, JIRAM is proving to be one of the most valuable tools for learning how this world works torture,” says Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in the US.
The research was published in Nature Communications.
