Flybys of Io one of the moons of Jupiter and the most volcanically active world in our Solar System, have revealed a lava lake and a towering feature called “Steeple Mountain” on the Moon's alien surface.
A Juno probe NASA, which first arrived to study Jupiter and its moons in 2016, flew within 1.5 kilometers of the lava world's surface in December and February to capture the first detailed images of Io's northern latitudes.
It's been more than 20 years since a mission flew this close to Io, and the spacecraft's camera, called JunoCam captured high-resolution images that showed active volcanic plumes, mountain peaks and a refreshing lava lake with a glass-smooth surface .
“Io is just full of volcanoes, and we caught a few of them in action,” said Scott Bolton, Juno’s principal investigator for the study. Southwest Research Institute in a statement.
“We also got some excellent close-ups and other data of a 200-kilometer-long lava lake called Loki Patera . There's incredible detail showing these crazy islands embedded in the middle of a magma lake potentially rimmed by hot lava,” he added. “The specular reflection our instruments recorded from the lake suggests that parts of Io's surface are glass-smooth, reminiscent of obsidian glass created volcanically on Earth.”
Bolton announced the findings on April 16 at the General Assembly of the European Geophysical Union in Vienna. The new data is creating a clearer portrait of Io, which has intrigued scientists for centuries.
“Other than Earth, it is the only place in our Solar System where we see active magma volcanoes,” Bolton said.
Animating an alien world
The team translated parts of Juno's data into animations that bring some of the infernal world's surface features, such as Loki Patera and Steeple Mountain, into dramatic focus.
Juno detected the mountain with the help of the sun shining on Io's surface, which created dramatic shadows that revealed a very sharp peak.
“We use scientific data to understand shadows and measure distance,” Bolton said. “It might not be perfectly correct, but it's kind of what it would be like if you went there. We call it Pinnacle Mountain because it’s so steep at the edge, it could be Io’s version of the Matterhorn.”
Although the temperature of magma on Io reaches thousands of degrees, the moon's surface is likely -100 degrees Celsius, Bolton said.
“When magma comes out when a volcano erupts, it immediately freezes and probably produces sulfur snow,” he said.
See images of the Solar System
Source: CNN Brasil

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