Huge Lava Lake Spotted on Jupiter's Moon Io

Huge Lava Lake was spotted on Jupiter’s Moon Io by an extremely powerful telescope on Earth named Large Binocular telescope Interferometer (LBTI).
LBTI located on Mount Graham in Arizona, United States had taken highest resolution ground-based images of Io. This finding was published in the Astronomical Journal.
Images have revealed that the lava lake has thick lava crust which has solidified onto it. This thick lave crust periodically sinks into the lake as it fills up with lava, and then it cools off again.
The discovery provides clues to the interior structure and plumbing of the moon Io. It will also help to pave the way for future NASA missions such as the Io Volcano Observer.
About Jupiter’s Moon Io

• Io is one of the innermost of the four moons of Jupiter which was discovered by Italian scientist and scholar Galileo (Galilei) in 1610.
• It is named Loki after the Norse god who is often associated with fire and chaos. Its volcanic feature is called a patera.
• Loki is 200km in diameter and located at least 373 million miles from Earth.
• It is one of the most geologically active body in our solar system and has hundreds of volcanic areas dot on its surface, which is mostly covered with Sulphur and Sulphur dioxide.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2015