NASA’s Juno mission took this image of Jupiter and the most volcanic world on the solar system just hours before a close flyby of the gas giant.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Juno mission completed its 53rd close flyby of Jupiter on July 31 this year and just hours before that, it sped past the gas giant’s volcanic Moon Io and captured this stunning frame of both of them together.
Io is the most volcanically active world in our solar system and it has hundreds of volcanoes that often erupt with molten lava and sulphurous gases. The Juno mission has given scientists the closest look at Io since 2007 and it will continue to gather images and science data during even close flybys later this year and early in 2024.
Io is slightly larger than the Earth’s Moon and has a diameter that is about one-quarter that of our planet. Io is tidally locked to Jupiter, meaning that one side of the Moon always faces the planet. It takes around 1.8 Earth days to both rotate on its axis and revolve once around Jupiter.
Source:indianexpress.com