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NASA's Juno spacecraft captured new images of a volcanic column on Io, one of Jupiter's four big moons, called Galileo Moons, reports the Southwest Research Institute in Texas, states -United.
During the winter solstice, four mission chambers took pictures of the satellite, which is the most geologically active object of the solar system, subject to intense gravitational influence of Jupiter.
JunoCam, Star Reference Unit (SRU), Joviano Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) and Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVS) observed Io for more than one hour, which allowed us to see the polar regions of the moon and to highlight an active volcanic eruption.
NASA's Galilée probe he got evidence of volcanic activity at Io 20 years ago, but that's the first time that this is done by Juno. The @NASAJuno mission captures images of volcanic plumes at Jupi. ter moon Io – Light feathers and Io fires in the darkest night of the Earth. JunoCam acquired the first images on December 21st at 12 noon, 12:15 pm and 12:20 pm (Coordinated Universal Time). | @SwRI https://t.co/E42oey9fEq pic.twitter.com/XfMLAYL26W
– The SETI Institute (@SETIInstitute) January 3, 2019
"We knew we were innovating with a multispectral campaign to discover the polar region of Io, but we did not expect to have the chance to see an active material, a volcanic plume firing at the surface of the moon, able to clearly see the feathers, "said Scott Bolton, senior investigator of the Juno mission.
One of the images taken by JunoCam shows the half-lit satellite with a bright dot beyond the line of separation between day and night. "The ground is already in the shade, but the height of the plume allows it to reflect the sunlight, just as the way the mountains or the clouds of the Earth remain lit up after sunset", explained Candice Hansen-Koharcheck, JunoCam's. Institute of Planetary Sciences
The second image was obtained by SRU thanks to the sunlight reflected by the proximity of the moon Europa, which illuminated Io and its volcanic enclosure. The brightest point of the image on the image would be a penetrating radiation index, while the other points indicate the brightness of the activity of several volcanoes.
To date, more than 150 active volcanoes have been discovered on the surface of this moon of Jupiter, considered as the body. the volcanic activity of our solar system, but scientists hope to discover at least 250 other volcanoes.
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