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The NASA Juno spacecraft will fly past Jupiter’s lava-filled moon Io on May 16 before heading to the gas planet. This will occur at a distance of approximately 22,060 miles (35,500 km), making it the closest flyby of the Jovian moon ever made.
Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanically active celestial body in the entire Solar System, not just the region around the gas giant. The solar-powered spacecraft, which is currently in the third year of its long mission to study Jupiter’s interior, will also research the ring system, which is home to some of Jupiter’s inner moons.
Juno has made 50 flybys of Jupiter and also collected data during close passes with three of the Galilean moons, including hot Io and cold Europa.
“Io is the most volcanic celestial body we know of within the Solar System,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator for the Juno mission.
Although Juno was primarily intended to research Jupiter, during its long mission, its instruments have proved helpful in analyzing the gas giant’s moon planet.
See also: We Finally Know What’s Inside the Moon and It’s Surprising!
To examine Io’s volcanoes when the planet passes over the moon, astronomers will use the JunoCam visible light imager, JIRAM (Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper), SRU (Stellar Reference Unit) and MWR (Microwave Radiometer) instruments.
The NASA Juno spacecraft will fly past Jupiter’s lava-filled moon Io on May 16 before heading to the gas planet. This will occur at a distance of approximately 22,060 miles (35,500 km), making it the closest flyby of the Jovian moon ever made.
Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanically active celestial body in the entire Solar System, not just the region around the gas giant. The solar-powered spacecraft, which is currently in the third year of its long mission to study Jupiter’s interior, will also research the ring system, which is home to some of Jupiter’s inner moons.
Juno has made 50 flybys of Jupiter and also collected data during close passes with three of the Galilean moons, including hot Io and cold Europa.
“Io is the most volcanic celestial body we know of within the Solar System,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator for the Juno mission.
Although Juno was primarily intended to research Jupiter, during its long mission, its instruments have proved helpful in analyzing the gas giant’s moon planet.
See also: We Finally Know What’s Inside the Moon and It’s Surprising!
To examine Io’s volcanoes when the planet passes over the moon, astronomers will use the JunoCam visible light imager, JIRAM (Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper), SRU (Stellar Reference Unit) and MWR (Microwave Radiometer) instruments.
