Io, Jupiter's second-smallest moon is the most volcanically active world in the solar system, with hundreds of active volcanoes spewing lava for billions of years.
NASA's Juno mission and ground-based telescopes like the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) have captured infrared images revealing widespread lava lakes, active volcanoes, overlapping lava deposits, sulfur rings, and volcanic plumes reaching up to 300 kilometers above the surface of Io.
Juno's infrared mapping instrument, the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM), conducted flybys above Io, capturing infrared imagery revealing lava lakes and hot spots covering about 3% of Io's surface, with temperatures ranging from 450 to 1,350 degrees Fahrenheit (232-732 degrees Celsius). The findings were published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment
The high spatial resolution images from Juno suggest magma wells up in the middle of lava lakes, forming crusts that sink along the rim or break against the walls, forming lava rings similar to those in Hawaiian lava lakes, indicating a balance between erupting and circulated melt.
The ongoing volcanic activity on Io shaped its surface over billions of years, driven by the gravitational tug-of-war between Jupiter and its other moons.
Sources: Mashable, Gizmodo, JPL, Newsweek, NASA, Economic Times, ScienceAlert, SUCH TV, Global Village Space, EarthSky, Borsa Italiana, Space.com, SciTechDaily, Phys.org, SpaceDaily, Science Times, Sci.News
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.
