A new animation reveals a huge lava lake on the surface of Jupiter's moon Io.
See also: NASA: It went very close to Io, Jupiter's special moon - Impressive images
The image comes from NASA's Juno spacecraft , which flew within 1,500 kilometers of the planet's volcanic surface in December 2023 and January 2024. Those flybys provided the closest look ever taken at Jupiter's most volcanic moon . Io is home to hundreds of active volcanoes. According to NASA , their eruptions are sometimes so powerful that they can be seen with telescopes from Earth.
The new images show Loki Patera, a 200-kilometer-wide lava lake on Io. Scientists have been observing this lava lake for decades. It sits above magma reservoirs beneath Io's surface. The cool lava in the center of the lake is surrounded by possible molten magma around the edges, Scott Bolton, principal investigator for the Juno mission, said during a press conference Wednesday (April 16) at the European Geophysical Union General Assembly in Vienna.
See also: Jupiter - moon Io: Volcanoes have been active for billions of years
" The specular reflection recorded by our instruments of the lake suggests that parts of Ios' surface are as smooth as glass, reminiscent of volcanically created glass ," Bolton said .
Rugged islands of rock are crowded together inside the lava lake on Io. "There's amazing detail showing these crazy islands embedded in the middle of a lake surrounded by hot lava," Bolton said.
Juno's instruments have determined that Io's surface is smoother than the surfaces of Jupiter's three other moons (Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto). Io is slightly larger than Earth's moon, and the surfaces that are not molten are largely covered with yellow sulfur and sulfur dioxide.
See also: NASA: See the amazing photos of Jupiter's moon, Io
Juno discovered the lava lake on Io while continuing to fly past Jupiter , collecting data on its dramatic polar cyclones, each of which is the width of the continental U.S. The mission is also measuring oxygen and hydrogen levels in Jupiter's atmosphere . The spacecraft will complete its 61st flyby of Jupiter on May 12.
Source: livescience
