Solar System

A New image of Io, Jupiter’s Moon with 400 Volcanoes

Published on 05 January 2024

The Juno probe, which has been flying over the Jupiter system for more than seven years, has just carried out a new flyby of the most infernal of the Galilean moons. The image offers a spectacular view of the most volcanic of the heavenly bodies in the Solar System.

This is the most detailed image ever captured by the Juno probe’s camera. The probe made the closest flyby of the moon Io in twenty years. The probe was only 1,500 km above sea level from the moon, known for its hundreds of active volcanoes. These images offer a lot of information about volcanic activity on this moon of Jupiter.

The Juno probe arrived in Jupiter’s orbit on July 4, 2016. In early 2024, it made its 57th flight over the gas planet.

@NASA – Artist’s impression

IN ORBIT AROUND JUPITER FOR MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS

JUNO HAS MADE 57 FLIGHTS OVER THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S GIANT PLANET

Juno , launched in 2011, entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Since then the probe has completed 57 orbits of the gas planet. The objective of this mission is to recover as much data as possible on the internal layers of Jupiter, the composition of its atmosphere and the characteristics of its magnetosphere. But the probe also managed to collect information and photos of three of the four largest moons of the Solar System’s giant planet, during close encounters. In addition to Io, Juno allowed us to learn more about Europa and Ganymede .

1500KM ALTITUDE

JUNO MADE THE CLOSEST FLIGHT OVER IO IN 20 YEARS

On Saturday, December 30, 2023 Juno began its flyby of Jupiter’s moon, Io. The closest flyby ever made in 20 years by a space probe. Juno and its JunoCam, one of the eight instruments on board, found themselves at an altitude of 1500 km from the moon with 400 volcanoes. Previously, only Galileo had achieved the feat of flying over the South Pole of Io at an altitude of 200km, in 2001.

Volcanoes named after Fire Deities

This new flyby allows us to explore the very rugged surface of Io. The surface, covered with sulphur , has a very particular orange-yellow hue. The main volcanoes are named after fire deities from several mythologies. Here we come across Prometheus, Hephaestus as well as Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of the sun, Loki, from Nordic mythology, and Amaterasu, the goddess of the Sun in the Shinto religion.

These images illustrate volcanic activity on Io. They were generated using visible light and infrared data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft during flybys of the Jovian moon on December 14, 2022 and March 1, 2023.

@NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN IO IMAGE FROM JUNO SHOTS

On their site, NASA and JPL broadcast raw images from the Juno probe. They can be downloaded for free and reprocessed using image processing software such as GIMP or Photoshop. Below, each black and white shot represents a layer, of red, blue and green.

Red

Blue

Green

STUDY THE VOLCANIC ACTIVITY OF IO

IO IS THE MOST VOLCANICALLY ACTIVE HEAVENLY BODY IN THE ENTIRE SOLAR SYSTEM

A previous flyby of Io, but much further away, was carried out last October. “By combining data from this flyby with our previous observations, the Juno science team is studying how Io’s volcanoes vary,” Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton said in a NASA statement. “We are looking at how often they erupt, how the shape of the lava flow changes, and how Io’s activity is linked to the flow of charged particles in Jupiter’s magnetosphere,” adds the head of Jupiter’s Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas. This intense volcanic activity makes Io the most active heavenly body in the Solar System. In addition to the JunoCam, the onboard infrared camera, the JIRAM (Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper) made it possible to collect the thermal signatures emitted by volcanoes.

In October 2023, a previous flyby of Io identified a plume just above the Prometheus volcano.

@NASA/JPL-Caltech/ SwRI /MSSS

The precision of the JunoCam makes it possible to reveal the reliefs of Io. Scientists hope to compare these images with previous ones to observe the development of the volcanic activity of this moon of Jupiter.

@ Cité de l’espace after NASA / JWRI / MSSS

LAVA TIDES

THE INFLUENCE OF JUPITER COULD EXPLAIN THE INTENSE VOLCANIC ACTIVITY OF IO

Scientists assume that the influence of Jupiter, nearby, acts on the ocean of magma under Io’s crust and produces this volcanic activity by tidal effect like that of the Moon on the oceans on Earth. A new flyby of Io is planned for February 3 to work on this hypothesis. “With our two close flybys in December and February, Juno will investigate the source of Io’s massive volcanic activity, whether a magma ocean exists beneath its crust, and the importance of Jupiter’s tidal forces, which relentlessly squeeze this tortured moon,” indicates Scott Bolton.

We Are Not Finished Flying Over Io

The Juno team adjusted the probe’s future trajectory to add seven new distant flybys of Io to the mission plan. After the close pass in February, Juno will fly by Io in every other orbit, with each orbit gradually moving further away.

MISSIONS TO THE MOONS OF JUPITER

TWO EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN MISSIONS ARE TO ARRIVE IN THE JOVIAN SYSTEM IN THE 2030s

After Galileo and Juno, other missions will soon reach the moons of Jupiter. In April 2023, the Juice probe ( JUpiter Icy Moons Explorer) from the European Space Agency took off. It will reach the Jovian system in 2031. It will not fly over Io, but Europa, Callisto and Ganymede, the icy moons of the gas planet. In October 2024, NASA plans to launch its Europa Clipper probe to Europa to confirm the hypothesis of the presence of a liquid ocean under its icy crust.