{"id":46002,"date":"2023-08-10T17:13:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T09:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/juno-is-bringing-jupiters-moon-io-into-sharper-focus\/"},"modified":"2023-08-10T17:13:20","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T09:13:20","slug":"juno-is-bringing-jupiters-moon-io-into-sharper-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/juno-is-bringing-jupiters-moon-io-into-sharper-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Juno is bringing Jupiter\u2019s moon Io into sharper focus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last time a spacecraft got this close to Jupiter\u2019s moon Io was more than 20 years ago, a blink of an eye on a typical geological timescale. Most planetary bodies in our Solar System wouldn\u2019t exhibit so much change in a couple of decades.<\/p>\n

But Io is different, with volcanic eruptions regularly remaking parts of the moon\u2019s crust. That means there\u2019s a good chance something on Io has changed since NASA\u2019s Galileo orbiter last encountered it in 2002.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s robotic Juno spacecraft is delivering the fresh data on Io with a series of flybys, each getting closer to Jupiter\u2019s volcanic moon until a pair of close-up encounters at a range of less than 1,000 miles (about 1,500 kilometers) in December and February.<\/p>\n

The most recent flyby on July 30 brought the solar-powered Juno probe about 13,700 miles (22,000 kilometers) from Io\u2019s tortured surface. Juno\u2019s science instruments were active for the flyby, with the spacecraft\u2019s infrared mapping instrument tuned to detect heat signatures from volcanic eruptions and lava flows and an optical imaging camera taking long-range pictures of Io.<\/p>\n

The $1.1 billion Juno mission launched 12 years ago this week and arrived in orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Its original goal was to study Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere and deep interior. One of its top science results was finding evidence for a large, potentially dissolved core inside Jupiter, upending a hypothesis that Jupiter had a smaller, solid core at its center.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From left, Ganymede, Europa, and Io, the three Jovian moons that NASA\u2019s Juno mission has flown past. This mosaic was created using data from Juno\u2019s JunoCam imager.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS\/Kevin Gill\/Thomas Thomopoulos\/<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Juno is now on an extended mission, and scientists cast a wider net of science observations for the spacecraft\u2019s second act. The tug of gravity from Jupiter is naturally changing Juno\u2019s orbit over time, bringing the spacecraft across the paths of the giant planet\u2019s largest moons. Juno flew close to Jupiter\u2019s largest moon, Ganymede, in 2021 and then visited Europa for a fleeting encounter in September 2022.<\/p>\n

Io, slightly larger than Earth\u2019s Moon, will get the most sustained look from Juno, which started long-distance observations of the volcanic moon last year. In May, Juno flew less than 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) from Io, followed by the closer flyby on July 30. The spacecraft will see Io again in October before setting up for what Juno\u2019s lead scientist, Scott Bolton, calls the \u201cclimax\u201d of the campaign\u2014the 1,500-kilometer flybys set for December 30 and February 3.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Some things never change<\/h2>\n

While Io is noteworthy for its constant changes, scientists are finding at least one consistency about Io: an apparently continually erupting volcano called Prometheus, also dubbed the \u201cOld Faithful of Io.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Voyager spacecraft first detected the volcano in 1979, and the Galileo orbiter made numerous observations of Prometheus during its eight-year tour of the Jupiter system from 1995 through 2003. The Pluto-bound New Horizons probe also saw the volcano erupting in 2007.<\/p>\n

Juno has shown that the volcano is still going, spewing a plume of gas and dust high above the night side of Io.<\/p>\n