Juno captures close-up images of Jupiter’s moon Io
On March 1, 2023 the Jupiter orbiter Juno passed within 33,000 miles of the gas giant’s moon Io, getting its first close-up images.
Several citizen scientists have processed those images. The photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was created by Andrew R Brown. This particular picture was one of five taken by Juno during the fly-by. Jason Perry processed all five here, with this caption:
Most of the dark spots seen across Io’s surface are the result of volcanic eruptions. These include East Girru, a dark spot that was not seen the last time Io was seen at this resolution during the New Horizons encounter with Jupiter in February 2007. East Girru was undergoing a major eruption at the time but hadn’t had time to produce a new lava flow before the end of the week-long encounter. This small flow field, measuring 3,200 square kilometers (1,390 square miles) in size, may have also been reactivated during an eruption in October 2021, as seen by Juno JIRAM.
Another apparent surface change is at Chors Patera, which has undergone a significant reddening since Galileo last observed it in October 2001. Reddish materials on Io are indicative of the presence of short-chain sulfur and are often associated with high-temperature, silicate volcanism. Additional dark spots near the terminator, the boundary between Io’s day and night sides, are the shadows of tall mountains. The dark spot at middle right in the upper right image may be due a mountain 5500 meters (18,000 feet) tall.
The smallest object resolved in this image is about 22 miles across.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. The ebook can also be purchased direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from me (hardback $24.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $5.00). Just email me at zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
On March 1, 2023 the Jupiter orbiter Juno passed within 33,000 miles of the gas giant’s moon Io, getting its first close-up images.
Several citizen scientists have processed those images. The photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was created by Andrew R Brown. This particular picture was one of five taken by Juno during the fly-by. Jason Perry processed all five here, with this caption:
Most of the dark spots seen across Io’s surface are the result of volcanic eruptions. These include East Girru, a dark spot that was not seen the last time Io was seen at this resolution during the New Horizons encounter with Jupiter in February 2007. East Girru was undergoing a major eruption at the time but hadn’t had time to produce a new lava flow before the end of the week-long encounter. This small flow field, measuring 3,200 square kilometers (1,390 square miles) in size, may have also been reactivated during an eruption in October 2021, as seen by Juno JIRAM.
Another apparent surface change is at Chors Patera, which has undergone a significant reddening since Galileo last observed it in October 2001. Reddish materials on Io are indicative of the presence of short-chain sulfur and are often associated with high-temperature, silicate volcanism. Additional dark spots near the terminator, the boundary between Io’s day and night sides, are the shadows of tall mountains. The dark spot at middle right in the upper right image may be due a mountain 5500 meters (18,000 feet) tall.
The smallest object resolved in this image is about 22 miles across.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. The ebook can also be purchased direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from me (hardback $24.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $5.00). Just email me at zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
That’s-a some jumbo pizza!!
30 minutes or it’s free?
The “moldy orange” is back. (Who was the person that first coined this apt description?)
For more on Io’s actual coloration, see https://www.planetary.org/articles/2629