NASA's Juno Maps Io's Volcanic Heat

NASA's Juno spacecraft has been studying Jupiter's moon Io, which is the most volcanically active body in our solar system.

Io is caught in a gravitational tug-of-war between Jupiter and its neighboring moons, which causes extreme tidal flexing and generates a lot of heat inside.

This heat turns Io's interior into a churning cauldron of magma that feeds hundreds of active volcanoes.

Juno's special instrument, called JIRAM, captured thermal images of Io, showing the heat emitted from lava lakes, fissure eruptions, and massive volcanic calderas.

The data allowed scientists to see several meters below the surface, revealing a significant temperature increase.

Io's surface is smooth when viewed at long microwave wavelengths, and the upper layer has a low density, similar to volcanic ash or pumice.

The observations show that heat is rising steadily through Io's crust or escaping through scattered patches of thin crust above lava or hot vents.

This study helps us understand how tidal heating works throughout the cosmos and how it can create volcanic activity and fuel subsurface oceans on moons far from their parent star.