Researchers have noticed an enormous new energetic volcano on Jupiter’s moon Io by evaluating photographs taken by two NASA missions greater than 1 / 4 of a century aside.
The pictures of the brand new volcano have been taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft and its JunoCam because it made a flyby of Io — the photo voltaic system’s most volcanic physique — on Feb. 3 this yr. The pictures have been captured on the nightside of Io, illuminated solely by mirrored daylight from Jupiter.
Comparability with Galileo spacecraft imagery of the identical space, simply south of Io’s equator, taken in November 1997, revealed that there was beforehand no volcanic characteristic in that location, which means the huge characteristic and its after-effects have appeared sooner or later over the last 27 years.
The findings, which reinforce simply how volcanically energetic Io is, have been offered on the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) in Berlin this week.
“Our current JunoCam photographs present many modifications on Io, together with this huge, difficult volcanic characteristic that seems to have shaped from nothing since 1997,” mentioned Michael Ravine, Superior Initiatives Supervisor at Malin Area Science Programs, Inc, which designed, developed and operates JunoCam for the NASA Juno Mission, in a Europlanet assertion.
The JunoCam picture exhibits an space on the jap facet of the volcano stained pink, regarded as sulfur first ejected into area and which then descended again onto Io’s floor. On the west, two darkish streams of lava run about 62 miles (100 kilometers) in size and encompassed by two grey round deposits.
JunoCam noticed a complete of 9 plumes related to energetic volcanic options on the moon, in addition to different modifications, reminiscent of new lava flows and different floor deposits, throughout three flybys in 2023 and 2024, in accordance with the assertion.
Io, which is barely bigger than Earth’s moon, is caught between the colossal Jupiter and its fellow Galilean moons Europa and Ganymede. These gravitational forces tug on Io’s inside, producing frictional warmth, and leading to widespread volcanic exercise throughout its floor. The eruptions are thought to eject molten sulfur and its compounds.
Juno launched in 2011 and reached the Jupiter system in 2016. The spacecraft accomplished its main mission in July 2021 however is conducting an prolonged mission till September 2025. JunoCam knowledge are printed on the mission’s webpages.
