Volcanos on Jupiter’s moon are painting its surface with beautiful colors
You’ve got another thin coming, Lucy
The atmosphere of Io is astonishingly thin — a billion times thinner than theatmosphereof our own world. But, studying this tenuous layer of (mostly) sulfur dioxide gas allows astronomers to learn more about the thin atmosphere of this moon, as well as determine the composition of Io just beneath its colorful veneer.
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Although sulfur in Io’s atmosphere is known to come fromvolcanoesstrewn across the moon, several questions remain about its composition.
“[I]t is not known which process drives the dynamics in Io’s atmosphere. Is its volcanic activity, or gas that has sublimated (transitioned from solid to gaseous state) from the icy surface when Io is in sunlight?” askedImke de Paterof the University of California, Berkeley.
ALMA loving, I will give to you…
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers were able to see Io as it passed into the shadow ofJupiter, where sulfur dioxide gas freezes, falling out of the atmosphere of the Galilean moon.
“When Io passes into Jupiter’s shadow, and is out of direct sunlight, it is too cold for sulfur dioxide gas, and it condenses onto Io’s surface. During that time we can only see volcanically-sourced sulfur dioxide. We can therefore see exactly how much of the atmosphere is impacted by volcanic activity,” explained Statia Luszcz-Cook from Columbia University, New York.
Using this instrument, astronomers examined sulfur monoxide (SO) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) rising up fromvolcanoes. Study of the data revealed volcanic releases constitute 30 to 50 percent of the atmosphere of Io.
As Io entered the shadow of Jupiter “the SO2 flux density dropped exponentially, and the atmosphere reformed in a linear fashion when re-emerging in sunlight, with a ‘post-eclipse brightening’ after ∼10 minutes. While both the in-eclipse decrease and in-sunlight increase in SO was more gradual than for SO2, the fact that SO decreased at all is evidence that self-reactions at the surface are important and fast, and that in-sunlight photolysis of SO2 is the dominant source of SO,” researchers describe inThe Planetary Science Journal.
The third, unexpected, gas was also found — potassium chloride (KCl).
“We see KCl in volcanic regions where we do not see SO2 or SO. This is strong evidence that the magma reservoirs are different under different volcanoes,” Luszcz-Cook stated.
Likeour own moon, Io is tidally locked to its home planet, with one side always facing Jupiter. This condition, plus the gravitational tug of two of Jupiter’s other large moons, Europa and Ganymede, pull on Io like taffy, creating heating within the moon.
This movement also creates largevolcanoes, like Loki Patera, which stretches 200 kilometers (124 miles) across the face of this Jovian moon.
Io, first seen by Galileo more than 400 years ago, continues to fascinate us today.
This article was originally published onThe Cosmic CompanionbyJames Maynard, founder and publisher of The Cosmic Companion. He is a New England native turned desert rat in Tucson, where he lives with his lovely wife, Nicole, and Max the Cat. You can read this original piecehere.
Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companionis also available as a weekly podcast, carried on all major podcast providers. Tune in every Tuesday for updates on the latest astronomy news, and interviews with astronomers and other researchers working to uncover the nature of the Universe.
Story byThe Cosmic Companion
Exploring the wonders of the Cosmos, one mystery at a time.Exploring the wonders of the Cosmos, one mystery at a time.
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