Astronomy Picture of the Day - Moon Io from Spacecraft Juno

NASA ^ | 23 Oct, 2023 | Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, MSSS; Processing & Copyright: Ted Stryk & Fernando García Nav

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: There goes another one! Volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io keep erupting. To investigate, NASA's robotic Juno spacecraft has begun a series of visits to this very strange moon. Io is about the size of Earth's moon, but because of gravitational flexing by Jupiter and other moons, Io's interior gets heated and its surface has become covered with volcanoes. The featured image is from last week's flyby, passing within 12,000 kilometers above the dangerously active world. The surface of Io is covered with sulfur and frozen sulfur dioxide, making it appear yellow, orange and brown. As hoped, Juno flew by just as a volcano was erupting -- with its faint plume visible near the top of the featured image. Studying Io's volcanoes and plumes helps humanity better understand how Jupiter's complex system of moons, rings, and auroras interact. Juno is scheduled to make two flybys of Io during the coming months that are almost 10 times closer: one in December and another in February 2024.

[MtnClimber]

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

[who knows what evil?]

‘Dangerously active’? To who?

[\/\/ayne]

IO! IIIIIIO!. Volcano come and me want go home.

[Nateman]

...Dangerously active’? To who?

Dangerous to this guy!

[MtnClimber]

‘Dangerously active’? To who?

To the pot farmers who move there after Mars dries up.

[telescope115]

The Kennedy Clan is in trouble once more…….!🤣

[Paladin2]

Looks like some furry kicking a soccer ball.

[telescope115]

That is one CRAZY moon. Can’t wait for the close flyby…

[Diana in Wisconsin]

That is a gorgeous shot! What a MIRACLE our Universe is.

[MtnClimber]

That is a gorgeous shot! What a MIRACLE our Universe is.

I know. When you look at a photo of a distant galaxy just think of how much more there is.

[minnesota_bound]

I see a dragon on Io.

[The Louiswu]

Our solar system is amazing, millions of square miles of real estate but almost none of it is fit for human life without the use of space suits and enclosed habitats.

I believe we are getting a very real picture of the space around us, it's beautiful but uninhabitable for the most part. Years, hundreds of years perhaps, humans might be able to explore and perhaps mine some of these moons, but for now they are just wonderful images on our computers, to be gazed at and dreamed about.

[Verginius Rufus]

It looks like Io has a bad case of acne. Maybe NASA needs to send some acne cream. I’m sure Pfizer and other companies will be happy to bid for the contract.

[mikrofon]

Perhaps Ol’ MacDonald from the area of EIE…