NASA Juno Data Indicate Another Possible Volcano on Jupiter Moon Io

Data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft using its Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument point to a new heat source close to the south pole of Io that could indicate a previously undiscovered volcano on the small moon of Jupiter. The infrared data were collected on Dec. 16, 2017, when Juno was about 290,000 miles (470,000 kilometers) away from the moon.

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Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM

This annotated image highlights the location of the new heat source close to the south pole of Io. The image was generated from data collected on Dec. 16, 2017, by the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard NASA's Juno mission when the spacecraft was about 290,000 miles (470,000 kilometers) from the Jovian moon. The scale to the right of image depicts of the range of temperatures displayed in the infrared image. Higher recorded temperatures are characterized in brighter colors – lower temperatures in darker colors.

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Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM

This annotated image highlights the location of the new heat source in the southern hemisphere of the Jupiter moon Io. The image was generated from data collected on Dec. 16, 2017, by the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard NASA's Juno mission when the spacecraft was about 290,000 miles (470,000 kilometers) from the Jovian moon. In this infrared image, the brighter the color the higher the temperature recorded by JIRAM.

Source / Image Courtesy

Volcanoes of Io: Video of 1st Map Ever of Volcanic Jupiter Moon

On March 8, 1979, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft discovered active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io. Before Voyager 1 flew by Io, scientists believed the moon to be a dead world much like Earth's moon.

The mission discovered the volcanoes somewhat by accident. Three days after Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Jupiter, mission controllers took pictures of Jupiter's moons to help determine the spacecraft's exact location.

This process is known as optical navigation. While looking at the photos, a NASA engineer noticed a huge cloud protruding almost 200 miles above Io's surface.

Scientists determined that this plume likely erupted from a volcano. Then the team went back to earlier Voyager images of Io and found seven more plumes.

That's a real Io-pener

(Joking)

Very interesting Dragon

Dragon wrote:The mission discovered the volcanoes somewhat by accident. Three days after Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Jupiter, mission controllers took pictures of Jupiter's moons to help determine the spacecraft's exact location.

This process is known as optical navigation. While looking at the photos, a NASA engineer noticed a huge cloud protruding almost 200 miles above Io's surface.

Scientists determined that this plume likely erupted from a volcano. Then the team went back to earlier Voyager images of Io and found seven more plumes.

Io - Jupiter's Moon. It is the innermost of the Galilean moons that orbit Jupiter. Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system, spewing out sulphur as high as 300 km (190 miles) in the air. Like Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, Io was discovered in 1610 by the Italian scientist Galileo.