UNDATED (WKRC) – NASA not too long ago found an enormous lake of lava on the floor of our photo voltaic system’s most volcanically energetic world.
The lake was found on Io utilizing information from Juno’s most up-to-date flyby of Jupiter’s volcanic moon.
Based on NASA, Io is crammed with a whole lot of volcanoes. The rationale for that is due to a “tug-of-war” between Jupiter’s highly effective gravity and the smaller however exactly timed pulls from two different neighboring moons. Io was first found within the seventeenth century by Galileo Galilei.
The not too long ago found lake is considered about 127 miles lengthy. It includes a shimmering, glassy-like floor. Now, due to Juno, we’re getting an in-depth take a look at the floor of moon.
“Io is just plagued by volcanoes, and we caught a number of of them in motion,” mentioned Scott Bolton, Juno’s Principal Investigator.
Bolton mentioned that the staff determined to call the lake of lava “Loki Patera,” and that it “seems to have a floor that’s as clean as glass.” It is believed that the smoothness of the lake is a results of the lava in it cooling exponentially, which in flip displays the sunshine that the solar delivers to Io, in response to CNN.
Scientists additionally imagine that the lake, in addition to different surfaces on the planet, seem much like obsidian glass. Obsidian glass is created on Earth by completely different volcanic exercise.
Whereas capturing superb views of Io is not the first objective of Juno’s mission, it is nonetheless providing a great deal of info for scientists at NASA to work with. NASA’s major objective is to be taught extra in regards to the moon and Jupiter. Scientists hope that what they be taught can assist us decide if the moon has sufficient water to assist any extraterrestrial life.
