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Flybys of Jupiter’s moon Io, the only known volcanic world in our solar system, have captured images of a massive lava lake and a towering Matterhorn-like mountain.A graphic shows what a lava lake, called Loki Patera, may look like on the surface of Jupiter's moon Io. Close flybys of Io, one of Jupiter’s moons and the most volcanically active world in our solar system, have revealed a lava lake and a towering feature called “Steeple Mountain” on the moon’s alien surface.
“We also got some great close-ups and other data on a 200-kilometer-long lava lake called Loki Patera. There is amazing detail showing these crazy islands embedded in the middle of a potentially magma lake rimmed with hot lava,” he added. “The specular reflection our instruments recorded of the lake suggests parts of Io’s surface are as smooth as glass, reminiscent of volcanically created obsidian glass on Earth.
Although the temperature of the magma on Io amounts to thousands of degrees, the surface of the moon is likely minus 148 degrees Fahrenheit , Bolton said. Meanwhile, Loki Patera is another spot with hot and cold extremes. While the lava lake itself is likely very hot, the top of the islands are probably very cold, and a cold crust may rim the edges of the lake as well, Bolton said.
The team also used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array of telescopes in Chile to observe gases in Io’s atmosphere. The researchers found evidence of an abundance of enriched sulfur and chlorine, which suggests that Io has likely been volcanically active and releasing the gases for most or all of its history over the past 4 billion years.Io, first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610, is just slightly larger than our moon, but it’s unlike anywhere else in the solar system.
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