Closest Images Yet of Jupiter's Volcanic Moon Io Sent Home by Juno

It got bombarded in the one spot, not so much the other pic, must to do with orbit position.

originally posted by: All Seeing Eye

originally posted by: gortex
The images were taken on May 16 as Juno made its closest pass of Io while on its elongated orbit of Jupiter , in late December this year Juno will make an even closer pass expected to be just 932 miles from the volcanic Moon.

“Io is the most volcanic celestial body that we know of in our Solar System,” Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a statement.

“By observing it over time on multiple passes, we can watch how the volcanoes vary – how often they erupt, how bright and hot they are, whether they are linked to a group or solo, and if the shape of the lava flow changes.”

“We are entering into another amazing part of Juno’s mission as we get closer and closer to Io with successive orbits. This 51st orbit will provide our closest look yet at this tortured moon,” said Bolton.

“Our upcoming flybys in July and October will bring us even closer, leading up to our twin flyby encounters with Io in December of this year and February of next year, when we fly within 1,500 kilometers of its surface. All of these flybys are providing spectacular views of the volcanic activity of this amazing moon. The data should be amazing.”
www.iflscience.com...

Io is about the size of our Moon , its volcanism is driven by a tug of war between the gravity of Jupiter and the planet's larger Moons which stretches IO and creates the internal heat driving the volcano's.

In the second picture there appears to be something above the ground just inside the sunset line, to the right. Could that be a orbiting asteroid?

Could that be a tall volcano near the edge of the dark side, so its upper part is also illuminated by sunlight. Looks too close to be an asteroid, unless it is just about to crash into Io.

Nice pics. Thx OP.

If I was to build a planet, looks like the core is getting in place. What is it with all these diverse moons around Jupiter and Saturn? It is not like some common space junk has build up. As for some kind of interstellar factory making planets, looks like a good place to start.

Where will Earth end up a few million years from now, closer to the Sun or further away? Did the Earth start as a big gunky solar flare from the sun and is going out or was it made from deeper space and is going in?

The moon does have some considerations as a big space ship, maybe a bit of both going on.

a reply to: gortex Amazing photos! I wonder if it is hollow too!