Last Updated : Jul 16, 2018 08:19 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com

NASA's Juno locates undiscovered Volcano on Jupiter's Io moon

Juno a NASA’s space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter spotted Volcano on Jupiter’s moon Io. Juno being the spacecraft and Jupiter moon Io the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter.

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NASA's spacecraft Juno was sent into Jupiter’s orbit on July 4, 2016 to begin a scientific investigation of the planet. Juno will measure Jupiter’s composition, gravity field, weather, availability of water and other liquids, mass distribution etc.

Reports now suggest that as part of the investigation, Juno sent clues of a previously undiscovered volcano.

Juno co-investigator, Alessandro Mura, from the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome, Italy was quoted as saying, "The new Io hotspot JIRAM picked up is about 300 kilometres from the nearest previously mapped hotspot." In the statement Mura added, "We are not ruling out movement or modification of a previously discovered hot spot, but it is difficult to imagine one could travel such a distance and still be considered the same feature."

Juno is believed to have found a new heat source close to Io's South Pole. It detected InfraRed data through the InfraRed Auroral Mapper instrument on December 16, 2017. The heat source is found about 300 kilometres to the previously spotted hotspot.

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Juno team evaluates the data received from Juno and JIRAM and as per their observations, they have located over 150 active volcanoes on Io till now. Scientists estimate of about another 250 volcanoes to be discovered by Juno.

Since entering the Jupiter’s orbit on July 4, 2016, Juno logged 235 million kilometres.
First Published on Jul 16, 2018 08:19 pm