Juno Aircraft Find Mount And Lake Lava On Io Moon

Animated from Juno data showing the lava lake on the moon of Io (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA NASA's Juno spacecraft has approached Jupiter's moon, namely Io, twice. This close-range flight was carried out in December and February to get a detailed picture. The data collected by Juno have been converted into clearer animations. Animations shared on NASA's blog show two natural objects expected by scientists, namely a cold lava mountain and lake named Loki Patera.Scott Bolton, Juno's lead researcher, said that Loki Patera has a glassy surface. The reason is, Juno's instrument that managed to capture reflections of images on the 200-kilometer lake surface. "There are extraordinary details that suggest these crazy islands are embedded in the middle of a potentially hot lava-envelope magma lake," Bolton said. "mirror channels recorded by our instrument show that part of Io's surface is glassy."

In addition to finding mountains and lava lakes, data from Juno's ride shows that Io has a cooler pole compared to its mid-latitude. This data was discovered by the Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instrument. During short-range flights, MWR continues to collect microwave data. If the data collected is large, scientists for the Juno project may develop a 3D map detailing the lunar surface structure. Juno's last flight around Io has been completed since April 9. The spacecraft is placed within 16,500 kilometers from the lunar surface and is back flying close to Jupiter. Juno will return to orbit Jupiter on May 12.