Jupiter ’s moon Io is an eruptive secret . establish on scientific models , the flyspeck Jovian moonlight ’s volcanoes flare up in the “ wrong ” station . How could that be ? Well apparently , our models did n’t account for a massive subsurface ocean of lava .
That ’s right : consort to a young NASA study , Io may be hiding an ocean of molten rock , powered by a process known as tidal heating plant . Lava sea are fascinating in their own right , but this discovery also bears authoritative significance for the prospects of biography beyond Earth . A similar heat mechanism also could fire subsurface oceans beneath the icy moons Europa ( in orbit around Jupiter ) and Enceladus ( in cranial orbit around Saturn ) — two of the most promising candidate for extraterrestrial life-time .
Io is one of the most geologically active mankind in our solar arrangement , with hundreds of volcanoes constantly spewing lava some 250 Roman mile skyward . Planetary scientists have known for some time that Io ’s vivid volcanic body process is the result of a gravitational tug - of - war between Jupiter and Europa .
But there ’s a mystery in them thar space volcano : They ’re erupting in the wrong office ! Usually , the volcanoes we see on Io are offset 30 to 60 arcdegree east of where our computer models say us they ought to be .
concord to a team of researchers including Wade Henning of NASA ’s Goddard Spaceflight center , the pretermit piece of the puzzle could be fluid dynamics . Which only make sense if Io has a giant lava ocean beneath its surface :
The team opine a combination of liquid and upstanding tidal heating effects may best explain all the volcanic bodily process observed on Io . “ The fluid tidal heat element of a hybrid model best explains the equatorial predilection of volcanic activity and the eastward shift in volcano assiduousness , while concurrent solid - eubstance tidal heating in the deep - mantelpiece could explain the existence of volcano at eminent latitude , ” said Henning . “ Both solid and fluent tidal activity get circumstance that favor each other ’s existence , such that old study might have been only half the story for Io . ”
That ’s reasonably interesting , but also , so what ? Well you see , there ’s another tidally - accent moon kicking around Jupiter : Europa . You may remember that moon from every skill fiction Christian Bible and movie featuring alien life in our solar system ever . We ’ve got high hopes that Europa hold back a massive sea of fluid water beneath its glacial crust . And the young brainwave into Io entail that subsurface sea may be more common and longer - lasting than we realise .
Long - lasting enough for living to acquire ? It ’s high clip we rocketedover to Europato find out .
[ NASA ]
meet the writer at[email protected]or follow heron Twitter .
Top : Five - frame succession of images from the New Horizons space vehicle captures the giant plume from Io ’s Tvashtar volcano . Image Credit : NASA / JHU Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute
AstrobiologyAstronomyGeologyScienceSpace
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , skill , and culture intelligence in your inbox day by day .
word from the time to come , save to your present .
You May Also Like
