Stunning photo of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io is our best in decades

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has taken the best pictures of Jupiter’s moon Io in decades, because it handed by at a distance of 11,645 kilometres on 16 October.

Io is barely bigger than Earth’s moon and mottled with greater than 400 energetic volcanoes. The shadows of these peaks – some of that are considered taller than Mount Everest – might be made out in the most recent picture, which is proven in enhanced color.

Even nearer pictures of Io are anticipated from Juno in coming months as its present orbit takes it successively nearer to the moon with every go. In February 2024, it is anticipated to swoop to inside 1500 kilometres of Io’s floor.

The craft was launched in 2011, entered Jupiter’s orbit in 2016 and has been investigating the planet and its many moons ever since.

Jupiter has 95 recognized moons and the 4 largest – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – are often called the Galilean moons. Juno flew inside 352 kilometres of Europa final yr and supplied the closest pictures in greater than two decades.

In 2021, it carried out an analogous fly-by of Ganymede – which is itself bigger than the planet Mercury – and supplied equally detailed pictures, in addition to sensor information on the moon’s magnetic fields.

Before this, the best pictures of Io had have been taken by NASA’s Galileo orbiter, which was launched by a Space Shuttle in 1989 and travelled for six years to Jupiter. It spent eight years orbiting the planet and its moons, photographing Io in 2001.

Galileo ultimately made a managed crash in 2003 in order to keep away from contaminating any of Jupiter’s moons, some of that are thought to carry liquid water, and due to this fact probably life. Juno faces an analogous destiny: it is scheduled to de-orbit into Jupiter someday in September 2025.