NASA Shows Red-Hot Lava On Jupiter’s Moon

NASA Shows Red-Hot Lava On Jupiter’s Moon. Flowing lava and lava lakes can be seen as brilliant red spots in the image, which was taken on July 5 and released by NASA on Wednesday.

NASA stated that its Juno mission would take photographs of Jupiter’s moon Io on December 15 as part of its ongoing research of Jupiter’s inner moons.

“The team is really excited to have Juno’s extended mission include the study of Jupiter’s moons. With each close flyby, we have been able to obtain a wealth of new information,” said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, in a press release. He continued, “Juno sensors are designed to study Jupiter, but we’ve been thrilled at how well they can perform double duty by observing Jupiter’s moons,” he stated.

The Io Volcano Observer (IVO) mission reported that Io is a “real volcanic paradise with hundreds of erupting volcanoes spilling tonnes of molten lava” and sulphurous gases at any given time. Due to Jupiter’s massive gravitational pull and the passing orbital tugs of sibling moons Europa and Ganymede, Io is subject to violent tides that strain and crush the moon as it moves along its elliptical route.

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According to Science Alert, Sctt Bolton, NASA’s Juno spacecraft’s lead investigator, stated during a press event at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting “You can see volcanic hotspots. We’ve been able to monitor over the course of the primary mission – over 30 orbits – how this changes and evolves.” Mr. Bolton also stated that scientists have discovered more volcanic areas in the planet’s polar regions than in its equatorial regions.

According to NASA, this will be the first of nine flybys of Jupiter’s moon, with two of them coming from as close as 930 miles (1,500 kilometres). “Juno scientists will use those flybys to perform the first high-resolution monitoring campaign on the magma-encrusted moon, studying Io’s volcanoes and how volcanic eruptions interact with Jupiter’s powerful magnetosphere and aurora,” according to a press release from the agency.