Latest news with #JIRAM
India Today
30-04-2025
- Science
- India Today
Nasa's Juno flies past Io, captures the moon glowing from volcanic explosions
Nasa Juno spacecraft, which is orbiting around Jupiter, recently flew past its moon Io and what it saw was something out of a sci-fi film. The spacecraft captured Io glowing from volcanic explosions that have battered its from Jovian orbiter reveals volcanic action on Jupiter's moon Io as seen in infrared and also sheds light on the fierce winds and cyclones of Jupiter's only has the data helped develop a new model to better understand the fast-moving jet stream that encircles Jupiter's cyclone-festooned north pole, it's also revealed for the first time the subsurface temperature profile of Io, providing insights into the moon's inner structure and volcanic #JunoMission gets under Io's skin: New data from our Jovian orbiter reveals volcanic action on Jupiter's moon Io (seen here in infrared) and also sheds light on the fierce winds and cyclones of Jupiter's atmosphere. NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) April 29, 2025 'Everything about Jupiter is extreme. The planet is home to gigantic polar cyclones bigger than Australia, fierce jet streams, the most volcanic body in our solar system, the most powerful aurora, and the harshest radiation belts. As Juno's orbit takes us to new regions of Jupiter's complex system, we're getting a closer look at the immensity of energy this gas giant wields,' Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno combined the data from Juno's Microwave Radiometer (MWR) and Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) to make the data suggests that about 10% of the moon's surface has these remnants of slowly cooling lava just below the result may help provide insight into how the moon renews its surface so quickly as well as how heat moves from its deep interior to the team also determined that the most energetic eruption in Io's history (first identified by the infrared imager during Juno's Dec. 27, 2024, Io flyby) was still spewing lava and ash as recently as March 2. team's recent findings also focus on the cyclones that haunt Jupiter's north. Years of data from the JunoCam visible light imager and JIRAM have allowed Juno scientists to observe the long-term movement of Jupiter's massive northern polar cyclone and the eight cyclones that encircle it.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Jupiter's 'tormented moon' Io just unleashed the most powerful volcanic event ever seen
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A NASA spacecraft orbiting Jupiter has just witnessed some of the most extreme volcanic eruptions ever seen in the solar system, coming from a giant underground magma chamber on the "tormented" Jovian moon Io. The energy pouring from this record-breaking hot spot far exceeds the amount of power we are producing on Earth, researchers say. Io is Jupiter's third-largest moon, spanning roughly 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) across, which makes it slightly bigger than Earth's moon. It orbits Jupiter at a distance of around 262,000 miles (422,000 km) — also similar to how far away the moon orbits Earth — but it travels much faster than its lunar counterpart, whipping around Jupiter every 42.5 hours. This is due to the gas giant's immense gravity, which has also turned Io into a fiery hellscape covered with up to 400 volcanoes and multiple lava lakes. Io is frequently monitored by NASA's Juno spacecraft, which has been circling Jupiter in a highly elliptical, or stretched, orbit since 2016. Juno passes by Io once every few months and fixes its gaze on the volcanic satellite so scientists can learn more about the moon's fiery insides. During Juno's latest flyby of Io, on Dec. 27, 2024, the spacecraft's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument detected a massive new infrared hot spot in the moon's southern hemisphere where multiple eruptions, likely fueled by a single giant magma chamber, were taking place, NASA representatives wrote in a statement. The giant hot spot was chucking out around 80 trillion watts of energy, which is equivalent to "six times the total energy [output] of all the world's power plants," according to NASA. Related: Space photo of the week: An eerie look at Io, the most volcanic world in the solar system "The data from this latest flyby really blew our minds," Scott Bolton, a space physicist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and principal investigator of the Juno mission, said in the statement. "This is the most powerful volcanic event ever recorded on the most volcanic world in our solar system — so that's really saying something." Juno also captured photographs of Io, which revealed that a large dark patch has emerged on the moon's surface. This area is likely covered in solidified lava flows that poured out during the eruption, according to NASA. However, the spacecraft was too far away during the recent flyby to capture detailed images of the dark spot, so its true nature remains unclear. Based on the size of the mysterious surface feature and the levels of thermal radiation, researchers estimated that the magma chamber that feeds this hot spot likely spans an area of around 40,000 square miles (105,000 square kilometers) — around 30% larger than Lake Superior, Earth's largest freshwater lake. This makes the chamber the largest volcanic feature on Io, surpassing Loki Patera — a giant lake of lava covering an area of around 8,000 square miles (21,000 square km) in Io's northern hemisphere. Io's intense volcanic activity is the result of "tidal flexing," where the moon is continuously being squeezed and released like a stress ball by Jupiter's crushing gravity. This external force superheats the rock beneath Io's surface, transforming it into magma that then erupts onto the surface. This is different from volcanic activity on Earth, which is driven by internal heating from our planet's molten metal core. For decades, researchers speculated that the entire subsurface of Io was one big magma ocean. However, last year, researchers conclusively demonstrated that this was not the case. Instead, only specific areas, like the newly discovered magma chamber, accumulate concentrations of magma beneath each of the moon's visible volcanic features. RELATED STORIES —Eerie 'face' haunts Jupiter in creepy photo from NASA's Juno probe —NASA spacecraft snaps gorgeous new photo of Jupiter's moons Io and Europa —Jupiter's surreal clouds swirl in new van Gogh-esque view from NASA's Juno probe Juno will perform a closer flyby of Io on March 3, which should give researchers a better idea of what is happening inside the newly discovered magma chamber and provide clues about volcanism elsewhere in the solar system. "While it is always great to witness events that rewrite the record books, this new hot spot can potentially do much more," Bolton said. "The intriguing feature could improve our understanding of volcanism not only on Io but on other worlds as well."
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA spacecraft flew by distant world. It saw unprecedented volcanism.
On Dec. 27, 2024, NASA's Juno spacecraft swooped by the volcanic world Io. It witnessed a giant eruption. As the space agency's basketball court-sized craft orbits Jupiter, it swings near the gas giant's intriguing moons, which allowed Juno to observe "a massive hot spot" near Io's south pole. Juno's JIRAM instrument, which can detect heat, observed a number of closely spaced hot spots, pointing to a giant eruption of lava from a vast underground chamber. "The data supports that this is the most intense volcanic eruption ever recorded on Io," Alessandro Mura, a Juno scientist from the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome, said in a statement. SEE ALSO: Scientists discover a super-Earth. Something about it is strange. But that's not all. Io, a realm about the size of Earth's moon but blanketed in hundreds of active volcanoes, is no normal place. "This is the most powerful volcanic event ever recorded on the most volcanic world in our solar system — so that's really saying something," said Scott Bolton, who leads the Juno mission. This newly found volcanic feature covers an area of some 40,000 square miles, or 100,000 square kilometers. That smashes the previous record-holder, a feature called Loki Patera — considered the most active and persistent hot spot on Io — that hosts a lava lake spanning some 7,700 square miles (20,000 square kilometers). The hot spot, which NASA notes is bigger than Lake Superior, is visible below. The massive hot spot on Io viewed to the right of the moon's south pole. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / ASI / INAF / JIRAM Surface changes seen in the location of the detected hot spot between April 9, 2024, and Dec. 27, 2024. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Image processing by Jason Perry Io is blanketed in erupting volcanoes because it's relentlessly locked in a tug-of-war between nearby objects, including the colossal Jupiter. "Not only is the biggest planet in the solar system forever pulling at it gravitationally, but so are Io's Galilean siblings — Europa and the biggest moon in the solar system, Ganymede," NASA explained in a statement. "The result is that Io is continuously stretched and squeezed, actions linked to the creation of the lava seen erupting from its many volcanoes." NASA's recent flybys of Io, however, have revealed that it likely doesn't contain a global magma ocean beneath its surface, as determined by new observations of the moon's gravity. Instead, each of Io's 400 or so volcanoes may harbor their own chamber of magma. And NASA intends to further investigate this new site of prodigious volcanism. Juno will again fly by Io on March 3. Its cameras will be tuned to this compelling region of the moon, located some 484 million miles beyond Earth.
