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Animation Shows Volcanoes on Jupiter's Moon Io
By SPACE.com Staff
posted: 10:50 am ET
01 June 2001
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io_eclipse_010601 NASA scientists have colorized a previously published movie that shows an eclipse of Jupiter's moon Io. The new animation reveals interactions between the moon's volcanoes and its atmosphere. | Animation | | The Cassini spacecraft was able to photograph volcanic activity on Jupiter's moon Io as it passed through Jupiter's shadow. Click hereto view the animation. | During an eclipse of Io on Jan. 1, 2001, when Jupiter blocked sunlight from reaching parts of Io, the Cassini spacecraft recorded glowing lights created by auroras and volcanoes on the Jovian moon, which is the most volcanic body in the solar system.The camera on Cassini captured images of eclipsed Io in several colors ranging from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared. A 48-frame black-and-white movie was released Feb. 5, but now two colors have been added, revealing the source of the lights, scientists said late yesterday. In the animation, white dots near the equator are volcanoes, some of which are much brighter than the faint atmospheric glows. The brightest of them is the volcano Pele. Emissions of light are likely related to a tenuous atmosphere of oxygen, according to NASA scientists. These glows would appear red to the eye and are consequently given that color in the movie. Bright blue areas mostly likely represent sulfur dioxide. The blue glows are restricted to areas deep down in the atmosphere near the surface of Io, while the red glows are much more extensive, reaching heights of up to 560 miles (900 kilometers). This would be expected if the blue glows are indeed produced by sulfur dioxide, since sulfur dioxide molecules are heavier than oxygen atoms, so are more closely bound to the surface by gravity, the scientists involved in the research said. The prominent blue and red regions near Io's equator dance across the moon with the changing orientation of Jupiter's magnetic field, illustrating the relationship between Io's auroras and the electric currents that excite them. A faint blue emission is visible near the north pole of Io, possibly due to a volcanic plume erupting from the volcano Tvashtar at high northern latitude on the side of Io opposite Cassini. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.
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