The discovery of the four large moons of Jupiter is usually attributed to the great Italian astronomer Galileo Galileo, who spotted them using a primitive small “telescope” or a telescope. On the night of January 10, 1610, Galileo climbed up to the roof of his house in Padua, aimed his tiny telescope at the dark starry sky above, arranged the planet Jupiter and saw to his amazement three blurry bright spheres dancing next to it. A few days later he discovered the fourth. Then Galileo carefully described his historical discovery in Star Messenger.
The giant gas planet, Jupiter, stands out in the crowd of our charming family of eight major planets. This is the fifth planet of our Star, the Sun, and it is twice as massive as all the other planets in our solar system.
This giant planet was properly named after the king of the gods in ancient Roman mythology. Four Galilean The moons of Jupiter — named after their discoverer — bear the names of some of the rich lovers: Io, Europe, Ganymede, and Callisto. Of the four, Io stands out as the moon. This is the innermost Galilean a moon with a bizarre appearance that was comparable to pepperoni pizza! Io is a very volcanic, fiery mini-world, generously covered with yellow sulfur.
Four Galilean the moon is a study in extreme conditions: from fiery hot Io, which spews more lava per unit than any other known object in our solar system, to the most distant of the four moons, Callisto, which is a frigid ball of frozen, muddy ice that almost as large as the planet Mercury. By contrast, tasteless, highly volcanic Io, Callisto seems devastated.
Between the extremes of Io and Callisto are two other Galilean Moon, Europe and Ganymede. It is believed that the European strange, cracked, icy surface, similar to the terrible broken eggshell, contains a hidden global ocean of water. In the ocean of Europe, it was possible to take primitive forms of life that float around in the cold gloom, thanks to their shattered, icy crust. Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system, and it has a fancy patchwork surface, a strange web consisting of many faults, fractures, grooves and cracks, which indicates that this giant moon had a very strong past. Like its sister moon, Europe, Ganymede can also have a global ocean of water hidden by its painful ice crust.
With the exception of fiery hot Io Galilean The moons are all encoded in thick shells of ice, which have been cracked, deformed and twisted by processes that are only partially understood by the planet scientists.
But Io is not at all icy. In fact, it resembles biblical and literary versions of hell.
Blue snow
Io volcanoes were first seen Voyager 1 when he made his long journey through the junior system back in 1979. Galileo the spacecraft, which made a more recent visit to the Jupiter system when it went into orbit from 1993 to 2003, discovered more than 160 active volcanoes and a variety of eruptions on Io. But, Galileo & # 39; s the data raised some puzzling questions about the nature of heavy volcanism.
Old navigator Images first revealed an unusual Io surface. When the first color close-up was noticed, navigator Team Leader Dr. Brad Smith commented that he had seen “better looking pizzas.” As a result of this observation, the first color close-up, made on March 4, 1979, became known as the “pizza picture”. The circular feature that was observed in the center of this strange moon - the so-called “pepperoni” - was extremely revealed as one of the many volcanoes of Io. It was later named Prometheus.
navigator the images also showed that sulfur is the main component of the hellish composition of Io. Gaseous sulfur dioxide floating above one region of the volcano was observed. Frozen sulfur dioxide was also detected on the basis of the Earth.
Early navigator images found more than 100 caldera - volcanic craters - and some of them have revealed the currents of what passes behind the lava on the moon. The streams themselves were described while "very thin and liquid."
Sulfur dioxide gas was detected Voyager & # 39; s sensors. It was discovered that he erupts from Io volcanoes, but there are probably other substances added to witch broths. There is no water, which indicates that Io is actively (and spewing his water) for most of his existence. When gases get into open space, there are clear indications that they can partially condense and then dance back to the surface of the moon. Ultraviolet data show fine-grained solids, perhaps less than 0.0000 inches across, as well as some very bright blue spots. Some planetary scientists believe that these shiny blue spots are “blue snow,” and they stand out in dramatic contrast with the rest of the Io for a predominantly red-yellow surface. Dense volcano, Pele , about 600 miles across, bewitched navigator scientists when the image was made by Io on March 5, 1979. The picture was taken from a distance of about 240,000 miles. Many of the surface features on Io - with the exception of rare mountains - may consist of sulfur.
Fire fountains
A team of Californian planetary scientists have closely watched many volcanoes I since 2003. Team used optical system on 8-10 m telescopes to monitor heavy volcanic activity Io. Observations with WM Keck II A 10 m telescope on Mauna Cay in Hawaii, gave researchers a nine-year record of volcanism on this strange fiery moon. Adaptive Optics refers to the technique used by astronomers to increase the resolution of terrestrial objects by countering the distorting effects of the atmosphere of our planet on the image. The group’s efforts will continue and improve when the next generation of telescopes on Earth becomes available.
It is believed that the gravitational game of tug-of-war with Jupiter is the main cause of strong volcanism Io. However, this process is not entirely clear. Although Io volcanic eruptions cannot be observed directly from Earth, the team, led by Dr. Frank Marquis, who is a researcher on Carl Sagan Center of SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, developed the only combination of ground-based telescopes and archive images from navigator and Galileo observations , The team announced its findings on October 17, 2012 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society for Planetary Sciences, which was held in Reno, Nevada.
“Since our first observations of Io in 2001 using WM Keck II A 10-meter telescope from the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii and its AO system (adaptive optics), our group was very worried about this technology. Very large telescope (VLT) in chile and on North Gemini Telescope in Hawaii. In recent years, technology has improved, and the quality and usefulness of these sophisticated instruments have made them part of the necessary tool kit for large telescopes, ”explained Dr. Martchys on October 17, 2012. Universe today.
A team using near-infrared wavelengths to track thermal emissions emanating from numerous Io volcanoes, high-temperature energy eruptions detected (rushes) Some of the “flashes” displayed fountains of fire. Low temperature eruptions (effusion) also observed.
A general picture of sporadic activity, observed in several volcanic centers, appeared. Volcano Tvashtara for example, broke out somewhere between 2006 and 2007, New Horizons the spacecraft jumped past the Jupiter system on its way to the dwarf planet Pluto and Kuiper belt. Kuiper Belt is a ring of ice comets-like objects of various sizes surrounding the Sun beyond the orbit of the largest main planet Neptune. Pluto , once considered the ninth largest planet from the Sun, was reclassified as dwarf planet-- just another of the many and diverse inhabitants Kuiper belt.
Older observations from Galileo missions and Keck Observatory showed that Tvashtara The volcano previously experienced a similar eruption of a source of fire that began in November 1999 and lasted until February 2000. Pillan-- another volcanic energy eruption that was noticed Galileo spacecraft - lasted from 1996 to 1999. Pillan was sporadically eruptive again in August 2007. This episodic volcanic activity indicates that magma chambers hiding beneath Io volcanoes are regularly replenished after eruptions.
“The episodicity of these volcanoes points to regular recharging of magma storages, which will allow us to model the eruption process and understand how heat is removed from Io’s deep interior with this particular style of volcanic activity,” said Dr. Ashley Davis in October 17, 2012 Universe today. Dr. Davis - Volcano at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
The team also noted that since September 2010, the strange moon was curiously peaceful. About a dozen low-temperature constant eruptions blinded the moon, but the team did not detect youthful, burning burning flashes from behind the fire, seen earlier.
The study of volcanic activity Io group will also contribute to the new data obtained during the upcoming missions in the Jupiter-system, such as The mission of the European Space Agency. “The next giant leap in planetary astronomy is the emergence of giant segmented mirror telescopes, such as Thirty meters telescope is expected to be available in 2021, ”explained Dr. Marchisch in October 2012 Department of Planetary Sciences a meeting. “This will provide a spatial resolution of 35 km in the near infrared range, which is equivalent to the spatial resolution of global observations, Galileo Spacecraft When he pointed to Io, these telescopes would offer the equivalent of a satellite’s space flight, he added.
