NASA’s Juno spacecraft will fly past Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io on Tuesday, May 16, and then the gas giant itself soon after. The Jovian moon’s pass will be the closest to date, at an altitude of about 22,060 miles (35,500 kilometers). Now in the third year of its extended mission to probe Jupiter’s interior, the solar-powered spacecraft will also explore the ring system where some of the gas giant’s inner moons reside.
To date, Juno has made 50 flybys of Jupiter and also collected data during close encounters with three of its four Galilean moons – the icy worlds Europa and Ganymede, and the fiery Io.
“Io is the most volcanic celestial body we know of in our solar system,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “By observing them over time in multiple passes, we can see how volcanoes vary – how often they erupt, how bright and hot they are, whether they are clustered or alone, and whether the shape of the lava flows changes. ”
2023-10-24 17:37:53
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