In December 2023 and February 2024, NASA’s Juno spacecraft will fly extremely close to Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io, coming within about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) of the surface and obtaining the first close-up images of the moon’s northern latitudes. Planetary scientists have now turned images collected during the flight into animations that show two of Io’s most dramatic features: its mountains and a nearly glassy rock formed by cooling lava called Loki Patera. It emphasized the smooth lake.
The JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft imaged Io, the most geologically active object in the solar system, on February 3, 2024, from a distance of approximately 7,904 km (4,911 miles) . Image credit: NASA/SwRI/MSSS.
“There are only a few scattered volcanoes on the island of Io, and we captured some of them active,” said Juno principal investigator and Southwest Research Institute cosmologist. said Scott Bolton, director of science and engineering.
“We also obtained great close-ups and other data about a 200 km (127 mile) long lava lake called Loki Patera.”
“It shows in amazing detail how these crazy islands are embedded in the middle of a potential magma lake fringed with hot lava.”
“The specular reflections that our instruments record about the lake suggest that parts of Io’s surface are glass-smooth, reminiscent of the obsidian glass produced in volcanoes on Earth. “
Map generated using data collected by Juno microwave radiometer (MWR)’s instruments revealed that Io not only has a relatively smooth surface compared to Jupiter’s other Galilean moons, but also has poles that are colder than the mid-latitudes.
During Juno’s long-term mission, the spacecraft will fly closer to Jupiter’s north pole with each pass.
This change in direction allows the MWR instrument to improve the resolution of Jupiter’s polar cyclones.
This data allows us to compare multiple wavelengths at the poles and reveals that not all polar cyclones are created equal.
“Perhaps the most striking example of this difference is seen in the central cyclone at Jupiter’s north pole,” said Dr. Steve Levin, Juno project scientist and researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. states.
“Although clearly visible in both infrared and visible light images, the microwave signature is not as strong as other nearby storms.”
“This indicates that its subsurface structure must be very different from other cyclones.”
“As the MWR team continues to collect more and better microwave data in every orbit, we expect to develop more detailed 3D maps of these interesting polar storms.”
Source: www.sci.news
