Jupiter’s moon, Io, is the most volcanically active planetary body in the entire solar system as it boasts hundreds of active volcanoes. This number continues to grow as recent study at the Europlanet Science Congress 2024 meeting showed a new active volcano on the small moon taken by NASA’s JunoCam after the spacecraft conducted the first up-close images of Io in more than a quarter of a century.
Not only have Io’s volcanoes been observed to shoot volcanic material hundreds of miles into space, but its lava fields also spread almost as far across its surface due to the much smaller gravity. For example, the volcanic deposits from this new image were observed to encompass an area spanning 180 kilometers by 180 kilometers (112 miles by 112 miles).
“Our recent JunoCam images show many changes on Io, including this large, complicated volcanic feature that appears to have formed from nothing since 1997,” said Dr. Michael Ravine, who is an Advanced Projects Manager at Malin Space Science Systems, Inc, which designed, developed and operates JunoCam for the NASA Juno Project, and is lead author of the study.
Comparison of new images from JunoCam taken in February 2024 (bottom segment) with imagery from the Galileo spacecraft in November 1997 (top segment), displaying new volcanic activity on Io’s surface. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Europlanet)
Taken from a distance of 2,530 kilometers (1,572 miles), the active volcano displays sulphur deposits on its eastern flank, likely due to the volcanic material being discharged into space and falls back onto the surface. Its western flank displays two distinct lava flows stretching hundreds of miles away from its origin. These images were obtained from several close flybys conducted by Juno between 2023 and 2024, resulting in incredible images of new volcanic plumes and surface deposits.
“JunoCam images are created by people from all walks of life, providing a way for anyone to join our science team and share in the excitement of space exploration,” said Dr. Scott Bolton, who is the Principal Investigator of NASA’s Juno mission at Southwest Research Institute and a co-author on the study.
What new discoveries about Io will JunoCam make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Europlanet Science Congress 2024, EurekAlert!, Europlanet Society