NASA’s Juno space probe is providing stunning data and snapping images of one of the solar system’s largest natural satellites. The new study offers a new perspective on geological activity and its consequences.
the Juno space probewhich belongs to a pot, Continue to provide amazing facts and pictures about Jupiter And she has 95 natural satellitesThis time focus on the surface. Third largest moon From the gas giant, IoSlightly larger than Earth’s Moon, it was able to conduct an in-depth study of the large lava lakes that make this celestial body the most volcanically active in the solar system.
To monitor Io’s geological activity, astrophysicists used a spectrometer. Jovian Infrared Aurora Mapper (JIRAM)which Juno owns, is responsible for capturing the infrared light and translating it into analyzable data. The results are published in the journal Nature, Earth and Environment Communications.
The formation of lava lakes is a result of the gravitational force exerted by both Jupiter and the other moons.causing Io to constantly expand and compress.
Although these formations were already known due to the high levels of activity, their properties could not be precisely measured. Juno was able to get as close as 13,000 kilometers in October last year to analyze the object.
The probe captured large bright circles on the moon’s surface that were around areas of extreme heat. This could be important data to reveal what is happening beneath the surface, as the rings mark an area from which lava does not emerge and does not continue to expand. Therefore, scientists believe that there is The balance between the magma that comes out and the lava that comes back in.
The rings are thought to form because the lava crust ends up crashing against the walls of the lake, which are hundreds of metres high, due to the rising and falling of magma. For this reason, no material is observed outside those boundaries.
“The high spatial resolution of the infrared JIRAM images, combined with Juno’s convenient positioning during the flyby, revealed that Io’s entire surface is covered with lava lakes located in caldera-like features,” explained Alessandro Mura, Juno co-investigator from the National Astrophysical Institute in Rome.
the Boilers We are Depressions caused by a volcanic eruption and subsequent collapseAnd it seems that Io has done just that. 3% of the surface The ones observed so far are covered with lava.
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