Sharmila Kuthunur is a Seattle-based science journalist covering astronomy, astrophysics and space exploration. Follow her on X @skuthunur
Using a telescope perched on a mountain in Arizona, scientists have managed to take snapshots of Jupiter's active moon Io — and these images are so detailed they even rival pictures of the world taken from space.
Io's volcanic eruptions, including those by Pele and Pillan Patera, are driven by frictional heat created deep within the moon as a result of a gravitational tug-of-war between Jupiter and its two other nearby moons Europa and Ganymede. Monitoring Io's volcanic activity, which have likely pockmarked the world for most of its 4.57 billion years of existence, can help scientists learn about how the eruptions shaped the moon's surface as a whole.
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.However, prior to the installation of the new camera on the LBT last year,"such resurfacing events were impossible to observe from Earth," study co-author Ashley Davies, a principal scientist for planetary geosciences at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in the statement.
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