NASA’s Juno mission has made a close flyby of Jupiter’s 51st, capturing stunning images of its moon, Io, in the process.
Juno flew by Io on Tuesday, May 16, bringing it closer to Jupiter’s volcanic moon than ever before. The spacecraft passed just 22,060 miles (35,500 kilometers) from the surface of the Jovian moon.
If this Jovian moon appears quiet in these images (which NASA’s Planetary Science Division It was released via Twitter on May 18), appearances can be deceiving. Io is not only the gas giant’s most volcanic moon; It also happens to be the most volcanic world in the entire solar system.
Some detailed images taken by Juno and its visible-light imager JunoCam show Io’s red surface scarred by fiery volcanoes. An infrared image of the Moon taken earlier during the May 1 flyby by JIRAM (Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper) shows the source of this scar, revealing multiple hotspots of volcanic activity on the Moon’s surface.
Related: Io: A Guide to Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon
“Io is the most volcanic body we know of in our solar system,” Scott Bolton, principal investigator at Juno he said in a statement before the flight. “By observing them over time over multiple passes, we can watch how volcanoes differ — how often they erupt, how bright and hot they are, whether they are associated with a group or alone, and whether the shape of the lava flow changes.”
NASA estimates that there are hundreds of volcanoes actively erupting on the surface of Io, the third largest moon of Jupiter, and the fifth largest gas giant located about 262,000 miles (422,000 kilometers) from its surface. These volcanoes can erupt lava dozens of miles into Io’s thin, waterless atmosphere, which itself is about the size of Earth’s moon.
This intense volcanism is thought to have arisen as a result of the massive gravitational influence of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, as it plays a game of “tug-of-war” with Io against fellow large Jovian moons Europa. and Ganymede. This creates massive tidal forces that have the effect of crushing and compressing Io, causing its surface to bulge up and down, or in and out, by as much as 330 feet (100 meters).
Even before Jupiter’s 51st flyby, since arriving at the gas giant in 2016, the Juno spacecraft has traveled more than 510 million miles to come up close with three of the planet’s four largest moons, the icy moons Europa and Ganymede, and the fiery one. Moon Io. The four large moons, including frozen Callisto, are collectively known as the “Galilean moons” after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who first observed them in 1610.
“We’re entering another amazing part of the Juno mission as we get closer and closer to Io on successive orbits,” Bolton said. “This 51st orbit will give us our closest look yet at this tortured moon.” “Our next flybys in July and October will bring us closer, leading to our double encounters with Io in December this year and February next year when we fly within 1,500 kilometers of its surface.”
Juno wasn’t actually designed to study these moons; Instead, its instruments and sensors were meant to scan Jupiter’s atmosphere and interior. However, despite this, over the course of 50 flybys of the gas giant, NASA’s rover has managed to gather vital data about the Jovian moons and, as this flyby demonstrates, some stunning images.
“All of these flights provide stunning views of the volcanic activity of this amazing moon,” Bolton concluded. “The data must be amazing.”
Jupiter’s large moons will come under more intense scrutiny when the JUpiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) reaches them in 2031. Juice will be looking for Conditions on the ocean-bearing moons Europa and Ganymede that would be necessary to support the existence of life.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 5 p.m. on May 22 to note that composite views of volcanic activity on Io in both visible and infrared were taken during the May 1 flyby.
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