(ORDO NEWS) — A major volcanic eruption was discovered on Jupiter’s moon Io. It turned out to be the most powerful in the last few years.
Jeff Morgenthaler of the Institute of Planetary Science has discovered a major volcanic eruption on Jupiter’s moon Io. He used data from the Io Input/Output (IoIO) observatory.
The IoIO Observatory is located near Benson, Arizona. It has been used to monitor volcanic activity on Io since 2017.
Observations show eruptions of varying power almost every year, but the largest of them was observed in the fall of 2022.
IoIO uses a coronographic technique that darkens light from Jupiter to image faint gases near a very bright planet.
The increase in brightness of two of them, sodium and ionized sulfur, began between July and September 2022 and continued until December. According to scientists, this indicates volcanic activity.
The observations are important to NASA‘s Juno mission, which has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016. The probe flew past Europa during the “flash” and is gradually approaching Io.
A close flyby will take place in December 2023. Some of Juno’s instruments are sensitive to changes in the plasma environment around the gas giant.
Of the four large moons of Jupiter (they are also known as the Gallilean moons), the icy moon Io is closest to the gas giant. It is also the most volcanically active object in the solar system.
The eruptions come from the tidal loads it is subjected to by Jupiter and two other major moons, Europa and Ganymede. Therefore, it is called the moon of “fire and ice.”
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