NASA records "most powerful volcanic eruption in history" on Jupiter's moon

NASA has recorded the most powerful volcanic eruption in history on Jupiter's moon Io. New images acquired by the Juno spacecraft provide insight into the nature of the moon.

According to Science Alert, it is the most volcanically active planet in the Solar System, with more than 400 active volcanoes. Juno has made several flybys of Io and has taken several images that show a huge hot spot near the satellite's south pole. According to NASA, the eruptions in the hot spot are six times more powerful than all of Earth's power plants, and its radiation exceeds 80 trillion watts.

The NASA spacecraft was sent to Jupiter to study the giant planet. However, when the main mission was completed, they continued to observe the planet's satellites. During its final flyby, the orbiter captured an image of a volcanic hotspot at the satellite's south pole that is larger than Lake Superior. The image was obtained from Juno's JIRAM (Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper) instrument.

According to scientists, the data from Juno's last flyby of the satellite exceeded their expectations.

"This is the most powerful volcanic event ever recorded on the most volcanic world in our solar system," explains Scott Bolton, the mission's principal investigator, from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

During its long mission, Juno flies by Io every other orbit, which means that the images can track any changes on the surface.

"JIRAM detected an extreme infrared event – a massive hot spot – in Io's southern hemisphere, so strong that it saturated our detector. However, we found that it was several closely spaced hot spots that were emitting at the same time. This indicates a large subsurface system of magma cells," said Alessandro Mura, Juno co-investigator, from the National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome, adding that their data confirm that this is the most powerful volcanic eruption ever recorded on this satellite.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!