Earth isn’t the only place in the Solar System known to have active volcanoes, but Jupiter’s moon Io is an overachiever.
The image above is what was happening on Old Pizza Face Io one day this past July, when the Juno explorer flew by.
In visible light, Io’s surface is a stony mottled yellow. And tidal forces, not plate tectonics, run the show here.
- More information on the extended Juno mission.
- The proposed Io IVO mission: NASA; Wikipedia.
- Loki is there, and you can see its eruptions from Earth — if you have veeery expensive equipment!
Other types of observation are possible, too.
A little lagniappe: Want to take a ten-minute “crash course” on Jovian moons?
Featured image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM
Flight To Wonder 