New Observations Reveal Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io Is Covered in Lakes of Lava

Amaze Lab

Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanic place in the entire solar system. Now, new observations have revealed what the surface actually looks like and it's a veritable hellscape.

Transcript

00:00This is Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanic place in the entire solar system.

00:09The reason for this is because the planetary satellite is caught in a gravitational tug-of-war

00:13match between the largest planet in our system and its other Jovian moons.

00:18This has led to Io's surface being deformed and pulled, causing immense amounts of friction

00:22inside the volcanic hotspot.

00:24Now new observations have revealed what the surface actually looks like, and it's a veritable

00:29hellscape.

00:30Researchers with the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy have written a new detailed

00:34study and revealed that the whole surface of Io is covered by lava lakes contained in

00:39caldera-like features.

00:41This is an image of one of those lakes, featuring a rocky island and a surrounding perimeter

00:45of molten lava.

00:47With the researchers estimating that around 3% of Io's entire surface is covered in lava

00:51lakes like this one, Io often has as many as 150 active eruptions occurring.

00:57That's pretty impressive, considering Io is only a quarter the diameter of Earth.

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