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Jupiter's four largest moons aren't just blurry specks in Galileo's telescope anymore.
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei Discover Ganymede, Callisto, Europe Io and Io date back to 1610, which explains why they are called Galilean moons. We've learned a lot about these strange objects over the past 400 years thanks to ever-improving telescope views and close-up images taken by spacecraft like NASA's. Juno Orbital Jupiter.
In fact, Juno recently conducted two flybys of the spacecraft IoIt is the most volcanically active body in the solar system, and the data derived from the encounters have impressed scientists.
Related: NASA's Juno probe sees active volcanic eruptions on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io (photos)
“Io is full of volcanoes, and we found a few during the fight,” Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, said in a report. NASA statement On Thursday (April 18).
“We also got some great close-ups and other data on a 200-kilometre (127-mile) lava lake called Loki Patera,” Bolton added. “There are amazing details showing these crazy islands embedded in the middle of a potential magma lake surrounded by hot lava. The specular reflection recorded by our instruments of the lake indicates that parts of Io's surface are as smooth as glass, reminiscent of the obsidian created by volcanoes on the moon's surface. Earth. “
Juno came within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of Io's turbulent surface during the flybys, which occurred in December 2023 and February 2024. Members of the mission team processed the encounter data and turned it into an animation, providing a dazzling view of the Moon.
Maps created using recent Juno data also showed that Io's surface is smoother than that of other Galileo moons, and that Io's poles are cooler than mid-latitude regions, mission team members said.
Jupiter too
Juno also collected interesting information about Jupiter's poles recently using its Microwave Radiometry (MWR) instrument, including differences between the gas giant's interesting arctic cyclones.
“maybe [the] “The most striking example of this asymmetry can be found in the central cyclone at Jupiter's north pole,” Steve Levin, Juno project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in the same statement.
“It's clearly visible in both infrared and visible images, but its microwave signature is nowhere near as strong as other nearby storms,” Levin added. “This tells us that its subsurface structure must be very different from these other hurricanes.”
The Juno team is also learning more about the abundance of water on Jupiter. Scientists are not looking for flowing lakes and rivers – Jupiter has no recognizable surface – but rather for oxygen and hydrogen molecules in its thick atmosphere. This work follows that of NASA's Galileo Jupiter spacecraft, which ended its mission by deliberately diving into Jupiter's atmosphere in 1995.
“Galileo did amazing scientific research, but his data were so far from our models of water abundance on Jupiter that we considered whether the site he sampled could be an anomaly,” Bolton said. “But before Juno, we couldn’t Of confirmation. “Now, with the latest results obtained using MWR data, we have determined that the abundance of water near Jupiter's equator is approximately three to four times the solar abundance compared to hydrogen. This shows conclusively that the Galileo probe's entry site was unnaturally dry.” “Normal, desert-like area.”
While many questions remain about how Jupiter formed, scientists continue to rely on data from the expanded Juno mission. The probe's next close flyby of Jupiter – the 61st overall – will be on May 12.
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