NASA ’s Juno conducted its 58th close clash with Jupiter ( perijove ) at the weekend and its final close flyby of Io , the innermost of Jupiter ’s four Galilean moons . Io is have it away for the volcanic activity that marks its surface , the first active volcanoes discovered beyond Earth . The late photo have take in some of those volcanoes erupting .
Juno has already performed a close flyby of Io , just over a month ago onDecember 30 . Over the last year , Juno has progressively catch closer to the volcanic moon , climax in these last two observation with a specific goal : mold out what goes on inside Io . In both cases , the spacecraft was about 1,500 kilometers ( 930 miles ) at its closest breaker point to the moon .
Jupiter ’s gravitation and the effect of two of the other three Galilean moons ( Europa and Ganymede ) are believed to be the reason of the volcanism . A tidal tug - of - war is materialize among the objects , heating up the Interior Department of the moons . Europa ’s under - ice rink oceanorGanymede ’s unique magnetic fieldare also think to be link to the process .
A zoomed-in version of the main image showing plumes from volcanosImage Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/AndreaLuckCC by 2.0
However , many dubiousness remain so the flyby is set to show if a global magma ocean exists under the open of Io , fracture through in lava lake and volcanoes .
“ Io is the most volcanic celestial body that we know of in our Solar System , ” Scott Bolton , Juno primary research worker from the Southwest Research Institute , said during an earlier approach to Iolast yr .
“ By honour it over time on multiple passes , we can watch how the volcanoes variegate – how often they erupt , how lustrous and hot they are , whether they are tie in to a group or solo , and if the shape of the lava flow changes . ”
While Juno ’s original mission was to studyJupiterand its home processes , as the delegacy was extended , the team was more daring in the close passages past the lunar month , ultimately providing the skinny smell at the moons in decade , as well as authoritative young insights into their internal operation .
The spacecraft has been around Jupiter since July 5 , 2016 , and it has many months of science leave . Its orbit around the satellite has been shorted too . It originally had a perijove every 53 days , this was reduced to 43 in 2021 , to 38 in 2022 , and from now on , it will be every 33 day . The second extended mission terminate in September 2025 .
