Io is a world like no other , at least within the Solar System . irruption from 400 fighting volcano constantly turn it inside out . TheJuno spacecrafthas provided stunning prototype of this moon of Jupiter taken during its first flyby . Already , range processors , professional and amateur , are disembowel out details that might be overlook in the raw photographs .
We ’ve known there was something odd about Io for more than 400 year . Its discovery , along with the other three Galilean satellites , rock astronomy . Once the shock of its creation wear off , mass noticed its cherry coloring , while the three other big moons of Jupiter are white .
The Voyager foreign mission let out what was special about it : volcanic eruptions are perpetually resurfacing the major planet . Most other moons of gas giants are cover in ice , but Io ’s surface has a good deal of sulfur . Carl Sagan called it a world “ smelling like crappy eggs and looking like a pizza Proto-Indo European ” .
Not every method of processing Juno’s images is attractive, but that doesn’t stop them being interesting.Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Thomas ThomopoulosCC BY-SA 3.0
you could hit your own judgment about what Io most resembles , but whiz just 1,500 kilometers ( 930 miles ) above Io ’s control surface , Juno has return stunning images that will be poured over for year to come . Juno has been orbiting Jupiter for seven years , but for most of that time its focus has been on the planet itself . Only now is attention reverse to the moons .
The close passage is about more than just taking mellow - resolution images of the surface . Io and Europa are both surrounded by donut - shaped rings of ions thanks to their locating within Jupiter’simmensemagnetic field . Juno flew through that . The data collected should be important scientifically , as well as being used to prepareJUICEand theEuropa Clipperto make like passages safely .
Juno will make another tightlipped pass of Io on February 3 . Io ’s gravity has already reduced Juno ’s orbital period from 38 to 35 day , and the next enactment will bring that down to 33 sidereal day . That transit will allow erratic scientists to compare the range of a function to attempt modification to Io ’s surface in a short period of time . There will be further flybys of Io every 2d sentence Juno approaches Jupiter , but none will be as close as these two .
With so many active volcanoes, there’s often one erupting, and Juno caught the plume from one near its pole.Image Credit: Ted StrykCC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Image processing from Juno ’s controllers will take fourth dimension , but already plenty of others are onto the chore .
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Io ’s vivid volcanism comes from having its innards constantly stretched and relax through its changing distance from Jupiter and the gravitative towboat of the accompany moons . At Europa ’s more comfortable distance from the soberness well , these effects create enough rut to melt the meth beneath the out cuticle and create aninternal ocean . nigher in , Io generates much more heat , turn rocks molten and leading the magma to split through the surface . In the process , Io has lost almost all its water , making it the Solar System ’s obtuse synodic month .
Io is so volcanic it was thought to be the only worldly concern in the Solar System , other than the gasoline giants , without impact craters . However , just last month , grounds emergedthis probably is not true . The image taken in these close pass will be scoured by amateurs , and perhaps by professionals , looking for further examples .
