NASA’s Juno spacecraft, on a mission to study Jupiter, has recently captured the first-ever image of the south polar region of Jupiter’s moon, Io. The data collected during flybys of Io has been transformed into animations showing mountains and a lava lake on the moon’s surface.
At the European Geophysical Union General Assembly, Juno’s principal investigator, Scott Bolton, revealed these groundbreaking findings. The surface of Io was compared to Jupiter’s other Galilean moons, with the poles found to be colder than the middle latitudes.
Continual flybys of Juno have allowed for improvements in the resolution of Jupiter’s northern polar cyclones. The data collected by Juno’s Microwave Radiometer has been used to quantify Jupiter’s water abundance. Results show that the water abundance near Jupiter’s equator is three to four times the solar abundance, supporting the belief that water-ice material may have been the source of heavy element enrichment during Jupiter’s formation.
Juno’s extended mission will provide even more data to further understand Jupiter’s structure and water abundance. The spacecraft recently executed its 60th flyby of Jupiter on April 9th and is set to execute its 61st flyby on May 12th.
These new findings highlight the importance of NASA’s Juno mission in expanding our knowledge of Jupiter and its moons. The data collected continues to provide valuable insights into the mysteries of the gas giant and its complex system of moons. Stay tuned for more updates as Juno continues its mission of exploration.
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