NASA is reportedly set to send a spacecraft to what experts believe is the most volcanic place in the solar system.
“The maneuver will be one of nine flybys of Io made by Juno over the next year and a half. Two of the encounters will be from a distance of just 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) away from the moon’s surface,” Ashley Strickland notes.
Scientists believe that Juno “captured a glowing infrared view of Io on July 5 from 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers) away.” As per Ashley, “the brightest spots in that image correspond with the hottest temperatures on Io, which is home to hundreds of volcanoes — some of which can send lava fountains dozens of miles high.”
In addition, scientists will use Juno’s observations of Io to gather extra information about the network of volcanoes and how its eruptions interact with Jupiter. The moon is constantly tugged by Jupiter’s massive gravitational pull, according to Ashley.
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Scott Bolton, the Juno principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a statement: “The team is really excited to have Juno’s extended mission include the study of Jupiter’s moons…With each close flyby, we have been able to obtain a wealth of new information.”
According to Ashley, “the spacecraft recently captured a new image of Jupiter’s northernmost cyclone on September 29. Jupiter’s atmosphere is dominated by hundreds of cyclones, and many cluster at the planet’s poles.”
“The Juno spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016 to uncover details more about the giant planet and is focused on performing flybys of Jupiter’s moons during the extended part of its mission, which began last year and is expected to last through the end of 2025,” she writes.
