The Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona (USA) has provided humanity with the clearest view of Jupiter’s “volcanic moon” Io.
Despite being named after the beautiful goddess Io from Greek mythology, Jupiter’s moon Io is the most terrifying “hell” in the Solar System, featuring hundreds of volcanoes that erupt continuously.
New images from the Large Binocular Telescope reveal that this world is even scarier than imagined, capturing a close-up of a major resurfacing event around Pele, one of the most prominent volcanoes on the moon.
“Volcanic moon” Io of Jupiter – (Photo: LARGE BINOCULAR TELESCOPE OBSERVATORY)
According to Sci-News, Io is slightly larger than Earth’s Moon – the only natural satellite of our planet.
It is the innermost satellite in the “Galilean moons” group of Jupiter – along with Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto – discovered by scientist Galileo Galilei in the early 17th century.
This moon is caught in intense gravitational interactions: from Jupiter, Europa, to the larger-than-Mercury Ganymede.
As a result, Io is constantly compressed, leading to heat buildup from internal friction, which is believed to be the cause of its ongoing and widespread volcanic activity.
The images captured by the SHARK-VIS instrument from the Large Binocular Telescope show a major resurfacing event, where the sediments around volcano Pele are being covered by ejecta from Pillan Patera, a nearby volcano.
The two supervolcanoes appear to be engulfing each other, as the dark lava ejecta and the white sulfur dioxide layers from Pillan Patera cover part of the red, sulfur-rich sediment of Pele.
Professor Imke de Pater from the University of California, Berkeley (USA) noted that this event caused an astonishing visible light phenomenon.
Not only is Pillan Patera attempting to engulf Pele with lava, but Pele is also continuously erupting, launching volcanic gases up to 300 km high.
If Pillan Patera were to stop erupting, its ejecta would quickly be covered back up by Pele’s red sediments.
By monitoring the eruptions on the surface of Io, planetary scientists hope to gain a better understanding of the thermal movements of material beneath the moon’s surface, its internal structure, and ultimately, the tidal heating mechanisms that drive intense volcanic activity.
According to Dr. Al Conrad from the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory, this could provide insights into the powerful volcanic activities that shaped the surfaces of Earth and the Moon in their early days. Both the Earth and its satellite began as fiery spheres with continuous volcanic activity before gradually cooling down.
