When NASAThe Juno orbiter flew close by a Jupiter moonsaw a few volcanic plumes spewing material into the air roomsomething the robotic spacecraft had not previously captured.
The plumes rise high above Jupiter’s planet Io. third largest moon. It is the most volcanically active world in our solar system, with astronomers believing hundreds of volcanoes spewing fountains tens of kilometers high. The spacecraft took the snapshot in February, its latest close-up tour of Io at a distance of 3,860 kilometers.
This latest hurrah did not disappoint. Scientists are just beginning to dig into the data from the close encounter, revealing new information about the moon’s volcanic processes, said Scott Bolton, Juno’s principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in a statement.
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The plumes seen here along Io’s edge come either from two vents of one huge volcano, or from two separate but closely spaced volcanoes.
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Andrea Luck
Andrea Luck, who lives in Scotland, processed the raw data to enhance the brightness (pictured above). The plumes, visible along Io’s limb, shoot out from either two vents of a single massive volcano or from two separate but cozy volcanoes.
Juno has turned around Jupiter for more than seven years. During its primary mission, the spacecraft collected data on the gas giant’s atmosphere and interior. Among its discoveries was the finding that the planet’s atmospheric weather layer extends far beyond the clouds.
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After completing 35 orbits, the spacecraft moved on to study the entire system around Jupiter, including its dust rings and many moons. This extended mission will last for another year or until the spacecraft dies. Juno will eventually burn up in Jupiter’s atmosphere as its orbit around the planet erodes. But rest assured: NASA says the orbiter is not at risk of crashing into and contaminating Jupiter’s moons, some of which may be habitable worlds.
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Andrea Luck
The spacecraft carries an instrument called JunoCamdesigned to take close-up images of Jupiter and engage the public. The science team invites amateur astronomers to process the camera’s raw data and crowdsources what to focus on next.
JunoCam isn’t the only instrument giving scientists new insights into Io’s volcanoes. The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper, or JIRAM, also observes the moon in infrared light. Researchers have just published a new paper based on the findings of the Italian instrument in the journal Nature Communication Earth and Environment.
Galileo Galilei discovered Io in 1610, but it took many more centuries before NASA Traveler 1 spacecraft saw a volcanic eruption for the first time. With the help of Juno, scientists are beginning to understand the mechanisms that drive this activity.
The entire surface of Ioabout the size of Earth’s moon, is covered in lakes of molten silicate lava. These lakes are contained within caldera-like structures — large basins formed when volcanoes erupt and collapse, Alessandro Mura, the paper’s lead author, said in a statement.
The researchers think the moon is teeming with vast lakes of lava, into which magma rises and retreats. The lava crust breaks against the steep walls of the lake, creating a ring similar to what happens in Hawaiian lava lakes. The high barriers may be what prevents the magma from flowing across Io’s surface.
But there is another idea that cannot be ruled out: magma could well up in the center of the lake, spread out and form a crust that sinks along the edge of the lake, exposing lava.