In both December 2023 and February 2024, NASA’s Juno spacecraft soared over Jupiter’s moon, Io. Shooting past at a distance of around 930 miles, the twin flybys — the two closest flybys of Io in over 20 years — produced images of the moon’s lava lakes and volcanic plumes, fleshing out our impression of our solar system’s most volcanic world.
According to NASA scientists, the images could contribute to our understanding of Io’s volcanism, confirming the patterns and the origins of the moon’s intense volcanic activity. The images also call attention to our advancing knowledge of the Jovian system, and the solar system as a whole, recalling a time when Io was mistakenly seen as an inactive, idle place.
“The Juno science team is studying how Io’s volcanoes vary,” said astrophysicist Scott Bolton, Juno’s principal investigator, in a statement before the December flyby. “We are looking for how often they erupt, how bright and hot they are, how the shape of the lava flow changes, and how Io’s activity is connected to the flow of charged particles in Jupiter’s magnetosphere.”
