NASA video shows stunning scene from extremely volcanic world Io - Mashable

NASA's Juno spacecraft recently swooped by the most powerful volcano in our solar system, on the most volcanic world known to exist.

The space agency captured detailed views of the over 127-mile (200-kilometer) wide volcano, which has created an expansive lava lake. It's a volcano on Jupiter's moon Io, called Loki Patera. "It's absolutely stunning, stunning imagery," Ashley Davies, a planetary scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory who researches Io, told Mashable earlier this year. Now, the agency has used the imagery to create an animation of what this extreme volcanic environment looks like from the Jovian moon.

It's both a hellish and majestic space scene. At the end of the short clip, you can see how the dominant gas giant Jupiter looms in the distance.

SEE ALSO: NASA scientist viewed first Voyager images. What he saw gave him chills.

"There is amazing detail showing these crazy islands embedded in the middle of a potentially magma lake rimmed with hot lava," Scott Bolton, the Juno mission's principal investigator, said in a statement. "The specular reflection our instruments recorded of the lake suggests parts of Io’s surface are as smooth as glass, reminiscent of volcanically created obsidian glass on Earth." (The lava field is likely covered with a smooth or glassy crust.)

Mashable Light Speed

Want more space and science stories in your inbox?

Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Thanks for signing up!

Close-up views of Loki Patera, the horseshoe-shaped feature on the left in both images. The image on right, taken on Feb. 3, 2024, shows a lot of surface reflectance, likely from a smooth or glassy lava field. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Björn Jónsson CC NC SA

Io is blanketed in hundreds of erupting volcanoes because it's relentlessly locked in a tug-of-war between nearby objects, including the colossal Jupiter.

"Not only is the biggest planet in the solar system forever pulling at it gravitationally, but so are Io’s Galilean siblings — Europa and the biggest moon in the solar system, Ganymede," NASA explained in a statement. "The result is that Io is continuously stretched and squeezed, actions linked to the creation of the lava seen erupting from its many volcanoes."

It's a wild solar system out there. We're learning a lot — and will soon learn a lot more.

Topics NASA

Adblock test (Why?)

"Scene" - Google News
April 20, 2024 at 06:00PM
https://ift.tt/CStyTAh

NASA video shows stunning scene from extremely volcanic world Io - Mashable
"Scene" - Google News
https://ift.tt/XFPSyeW
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update