Scientists have captured the rare moment of Jupiter’s eclipse, when its mysterious moon Io shines in sunlight.
In the image taken by the ALMA super-telescope system, Jupiter’s moon Io appears in mysterious rainbow colors. According to the team led by Dr. Imke de Pater of the University of California at Berkeley, it is the yellow-white-orange-red regions that hold the secret to this moon’s deadly atmosphere.
As some previous studies have shown, in the solar system there are only 2 celestial bodies that still maintain geological activity, the Earth and the moon Io. Although named after Zeus’ handsome lover, Io has more than 400 active volcanoes day and night.
This new work shows that it is the sulfur from the volcano that is responsible for this strange band of warm colors on the moon. This moon has an atmosphere billions of times thinner than Earth, but at too great a distance, it is enough to protect the eyes of real-world astronomers on the celestial surface.
ALMA data revealed the yellow – white – orange – red part consisting of sulfur dioxide, sulfur monoxide and potassium chloride (SO2, SO and KCl). These are gases that are harmful to terrestrial organisms. It is estimated that they represent 30% to 50% of the atmosphere of the moon Io.
Understanding the atmospheric composition helps scientists identify the different reservoirs of magma on the Io moon, thus understanding how this moon warms up with tides and internal heat, in the middle of a world. cold around Jupiter.
Il y a des moments où Io ne reçoit pas la lumière du soleil parce qu’il se «cache» derrière Jupiter. Le moment où ALMA s’attarde, c’est quand il atteint la région entre le soleil et la planète mère, créant une «éclipse» sur Jupiter.
Io est l’une des 4 plus grandes lunes parmi les dizaines de lunes de Jupiter. Lui et trois autres lunes de Jupiter, Ganymède, Triton et Callisto, interagissent tous deux avec Jupiter et interagissent également pour créer de fortes marées. Cela permet aux trois autres lunes de posséder un océan souterrain suffisamment chaud et de vivre. Io semble difficile à vivre car il est plein de volcans, mais les scientifiques disent que la Terre primitive l’était aussi.
Moon Io est la quatrième plus grande des lunes connues du système solaire, perdant face à Ganymède, Callisto et Saturne, la lune Titan. Cette lune est encore plus grande que Pluton – le corps céleste se bat contre la NASA pour restaurer l’état de «neuvième planète». Lorsque Jupiter s’approche de la Terre, la lune Io peut être observée à l’aide d’un télescope.
