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Credit & Copyright: NASA,
JPL-Caltech,
SwRI,
MSSS;
Processing & Copyright:
Ted Stryk &
Fernando Garcöa Navarro
Explanation:
There goes another one!
Volcanoes on
Jupiter's moon
Io keep erupting.
To investigate,
NASA's robotic
Juno
spacecraft has begun a series of visits to this
very
strange moon.
Io is about the size of Earth's moon, but because of
gravitational flexing by Jupiter and other moons,
Io's interior gets heated and its surface has become
covered with volcanoes.
The featured image is from
last week's flyby,
passing within 12,000 kilometers above the dangerously active world.
The surface of Io
is covered with sulfur and frozen sulfur dioxide,
making it appear yellow, orange and brown.
As hoped, Juno flew by
just
as a volcano was erupting --
with its faint plume visible near the top of the featured image.
Studying Io's volcanoes and plumes helps humanity better understand how
Jupiter's complex system of moons, rings, and auroras
interact.
Juno is scheduled to make two flybys of Io during the coming months that are
almost 10 times closer: one in December and another in February 2024.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Io
Publications with words: Io
See also: