NASA recently announced that last August Jupiter’s moon Io experienced three very large volcanic eruptions.
NASA recently announced that last August Jupiter’s moon Io experienced three very large volcanic eruptions.
They occurred within a two-week time frame, leading astronomers to believe that the planet’s volcanoes are much more active than previously thought.
What’s needed to determine if the concentrated activity is a regular occurrence or a fluke is more consistent observation.
Io is the innermost of Jupiter’s many moons and considered to be the most geologically active celestial body in the solar system.
Like Earth, it’s home to several volcanoes but due to the friction-induced tidal heating that results from the pulling forces of Jupiter and the other Galilean moons they tend to be more active.
Lower gravity also makes their lava spouts reach greater heights. What results is a debris umbrella.
A NASA scientist says the first two were observed on August 15th of 2013 and resulted in lava flows of 50 and 120 square miles.
The third and largest of the three was seen on the 29th.
It is believed to have created eruption temperatures that far exceed those that have been observed on Earth.
Going forward, astronomers hope to spend more time monitoring Io’s surface.
