EDo your insides churn when you’re pulled in different directions? You might be a moon
On Saturday, Feb. 3, our @NASASolarSystem Juno spacecraft made its final close flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io. Similar to the previous flyby on Dec. 30, 2023, this second pass was at a distance of about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) – or the distance from New York to Orlando, Florida.
Io is caught in a tug-of-war between Jupiter’s powerful gravity and the smaller pull from two neighboring moons, churning its insides and creating eruptions and lakes of lava that cover its surface. The twin flybys are designed to provide new insight into how Io’s volcanic engine works and whether a global magma ocean exists under Io’s rocky, mountainous surface terrain.
Image description: Jupiter’s moon Io seen against the darkness of space. The moon is half illuminated by sunlight from the right, and the night side on the left is dimly lit by reflected light from Jupiter. The moon is colored in shades of orange, brown, and yellow, with a surface pockmarked by circular volcanic calderas, irregularly-shaped lava flows, and sharp mountains that cast shadows.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Emma Wälimäki © CC BY
#NASA #Space #Juno #Io #Jupiter #Moon #Spacecraft #SolarSystem #Sciemce #Photography
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06 February 2024
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