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A scientist concluded that Jupiter’s moon “Io”, which is the most geologically active object in the solar system, last year witnessed a record-breaking volcanic eruption.
Physicist Dr. Jeff Morgenthaler of the Planetary Science Institute (PSI) has been monitoring volcanic activity on Io every year since 2017. He said Jupiter’s moon shows some kind of eruption every year, but the largest eruptions so far were recorded in the fall of 2022.
Lava appears on one of Jupiter’s moons, and Io is the third largest of Jupiter’s four large moons, which is slightly larger in size than Earth’s moon.
Like the other Galilean moons, it was discovered by the Italian astronomer, Galileo Galilei, in 1610, and named after Io, a priestess of Hera and a lover of Zeus in ancient Greek mythology.
Io is dotted with more than 400 active volcanoes, many of which spew plumes of sulfur and sulfur dioxide that can rise up to 300 miles above the moon’s surface. The volcanoes are the result of the intense “tidal forces” – or gravity – that Io feels from its host planet, as well as two of the other Galilean moons, Europa and Ganymede.
In his study, Dr. Morgenthaler used data from the Planetary Science Institute’s Input/Output Observatory (IoIO), located near Benson, Arizona.
The observatory uses so-called coronagraphic technology, dimming bright light from Jupiter so that faint gases can be imaged near the gas giant. This allowed monitoring the brightness of gases in a cloud or “nebula” around Jupiter, which began between July and September 2022 and ended last month.
Dr. Morgenthaler said that between July and September last year, two of the gases detected by IoIO – sodium and ionized sulfur – began to brighten, and they remained in this state until December.
However, the ionized sulfur – which forms a circular, donut-shaped structure surrounding Jupiter known as “Io plasma neutrals” – was not as bright in the recent explosion as it was in previous years.
Dr Morgenthaler said: “This may tell us something about the composition of the volcanic activity that results in the eruption.
Or it could tell us that the toroid is more efficient at ridding itself of material when more material is thrown into it.”
The physicist explains that the observations have profound implications for NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016.
Many of the spacecraft’s instruments are sensitive to changes in the plasma environment around Jupiter and Io, which can be traced directly to volcanic activity on the latter, as observed by IoIO.
The Juno spacecraft flew past Europa and is now slowly approaching Io, to fly near it at the end of this year.
Dr Morgenthaler added: “Juno’s measurements may be able to tell us whether this volcanic eruption had a different composition than its predecessors.