ANTARIKSA – In late 2023, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully reached the moon Io orbiting Jupiter. The closest approach to the volcanic moon occurred during Juno’s 57th flyby of Jupiter.

Passing about 1,500 kilometers from Io, the most volcanic body in the solar system, on Saturday, December 30, 2023, Juno managed to capture images of the Jovian moon in great detail. Previously, only one spacecraft had approached Io, namely in 2001. At that time, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft passed 181 kilometers above Io’s south pole.

Juno, which launched on August 5, 2011 and reached Jupiter and its lunar system on July 4, 2016 (after a 2.8 billion kilometer journey), photographed six views of Io in late 2023. Some are in Black and white frames, some are in color.

The purpose of the short route is not just to take photos. Juno’s task is to collect important data about Io and its volcanism.

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“By combining data from this flyby with our previous observations, the Juno science team is studying how Io’s volcanoes vary,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator and Juno scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.

Bolton explained that they were looking for anything related to the volcano. For example, how often the volcano erupts, how bright and hot it is when it does. So, how does the shape of the lava flow change and how Io’s activity is linked to the flow of charged particles in Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

NASA shared some incredible images of Io on its X (Twitter) account with a small caption: “Our #JunoMission’s JunoCam instrument captured six images of Jupiter’s moon Io during today’s close encounter. This view in white and black was taken at an altitude of approximately 1,500 miles (2,500 kilometers).”

Volcanic point on the surface of Io. Image: NASA

Io gets its status as the most volcanic body in the solar system due to Jupiter’s immense gravity. Jupiter itself is the most massive planet in the solar system. Io is also influenced by the gravity of other large Jovian (Jupiter system) moons, such as Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

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Together, the Jovian moons and Jupiter pull and push Io, producing enormous tidal forces. This causes Io’s surface to bend hard enough that it can rise and fall up to 100 meters.

As a result, Io’s surface, which is about the same size as our Moon on Earth, is covered with hundreds of active volcanoes that erupt lava tens of kilometers above Io. Some particles escape Io’s thin, dry atmosphere and are trapped by Jupiter’s magnetic field. The lava material then forms a torus of hot plasma around Jupiter.

This is just one way Io’s volcanism could impact the entire Jovian system. For this reason, the data collected by Juno is extremely valuable to planetary scientists.

2024-01-03 11:28:00
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