Utilizing images from the JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, planetary researchers have actually identified a fresh volcano with several lava circulations and volcanic deposits covering a location about 180 x 180 km.
A contrast of the JunoCam image from February 2024 with Galileo spacecraft images of the exact same location in November 1997 (grayscale insert) exposes a brand-new volcanic function on the surface area of Io. Image credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ SwRI/ MSSS/ Europlanet.
A little bigger than Earth’s Moon, Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System.
This moon is the innermost of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, which in addition to Io consist of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
Io’s volcanic activity is the outcome of tidal heating from friction produced within the moon’s interior as it is pulled in between Jupiter and its nearby moons of Europa and Ganymede.
The newly-discovered volcano lies simply south of Io’s equator.
The moon is covered with active volcanoes, images taken throughout NASA’s Galileo objective in 1997 did not see a volcano is in this specific area– simply a featureless surface area.
“Our current JunoCam images reveal numerous modifications on Io, including this big, complex volcanic function that appears to have actually formed from absolutely nothing given that 1997,” stated Michael Ravine, advanced tasks supervisor at Malin Space Science Systems, Inc.
The eastern side of the brand-new volcano is stained a scattered red from sulfur that has actually been vented by the volcano into area and fallen back onto Io’s surface area.
On the western side, 2 dark streams of lava have actually emerged, each running for about a hundred km.
At the farthest point of the circulations, where the lava has actually pooled, the heat has actually triggered the frozen product on the surface area to vaporize, creating 2 overlapping grey circular deposits.
The very best JunoCam picture of this function, east of an existing volcano called Kanehekili, was handled February 3, 2024, from a range of 2,530 km.
This encounter was among 3 current flybys of Io in 2023 and 2024, throughout which JunoCam obtained around 20 close-up noticeable color images.
JunoCam observed an overall of 9 plumes related to active volcanic functions on the moon, in addition to other modifications, such as brand-new lava circulations and other surface area deposits.
“JunoCam images are produced by individuals from all strolls of life, offering a method for anybody to join our science group and share in the enjoyment of area expedition,” stated Juno primary private investigator Dr. Scott Bolton, a scientist at Southwest Research Institute.
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Michael Ravine et al2024. Arise from current close-up imaging of Io by JunoCam (perijoves 57, 58 and 60). EPSC Abstracts 17, EPSC2024-731; doi: 10.5194/ epsc2024-731