Jupiter’s moon Io is a very
active world. NASA’s Juno mission to the Jupiter has revealed a lot not just
about Jupiter but also about its moons. While observing polar region of
Io, Juno’s team managed to catch a volcanic plume being released into space.
While capturing this
stunning view there was a solar eclipse on December 21. At that time Io was in
the shadow of Jupiter and lightly well-lighted by Europa. During that
situation, Io’s most interesting attributes came to light. Jovian Moon, Io, is
the most volcanically active place in the entire Solar System and the hints
from these volcanos are distinctly visible in the observation.
It also produces a large
amount of plasma into space, at a ton per second, which makes the radiation
belts around Jupiter. And in the photos, there was also this serendipitous
plume.
Scott Bolton, principal
researcher of the Juno mission, said in a statement:
“We knew we were breaking new ground with a multi-spectral campaign to view Io’s polar region, but no one expected we would get so lucky as to see an active volcanic plume shooting material off the moon’s surface. This is quite a New Year’s present showing us that Juno has the ability to clearly see plumes.”
Juno arrived at Jupiter in
2016 and the mission is expected to end until summer 2021.
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