New Horizons at Jupiter: Observations of Io

Physics

Scientific paper

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5405 Atmospheres (0343, 1060), 5408 Aurorae And Airglow, 5480 Volcanism (6063, 8148, 8450), 6219 Io

Scientific paper

Jupiter's volcanic moon Io was a prime target for the New Horizons spacecraft during its early 2007 Jupiter flyby. 190 grayscale images, 17 color images, and 7 near-infrared image cubes, and numerous ultraviolet spectra were taken during the flyby in order to map changes in surface appearance, volcanic plumes, and hot spots since the last close-up observations, by Galileo in late 2001. Best imaging resolution was about 12 km/pixel. The result was the most comprehensive global snapshot of Io volcanism yet obtained. Numerous small surface changes were seen along with several large changes, including new pyroclastic deposits associated with two major new lava flows in the southern hemisphere. Several new volcanic plumes were seen, but several plumes first seen by the Voyager spacecraft in 1979 continue to be active. Most dramatic was a 330 km high plume from the Tvashtar volcano, which provided the most detailed view yet of a large Pele-class Io plume. The plume maintained similar size and appearance for eight days, displaying a bright top and little evidence for a column of upgoing particles, suggesting that most visible particles condense out of the plume gases during flight rather than being ejected directly from the vent. Intricate filamentary structure in the plume allows direct tracking of plume motions, revealing projected speeds up to 0.7 km s-1. Images of Io in Jupiter eclipse show visible-wavelength auroral glows from all plumes and also very localized emission from most surface volcanic features near the sub-Jupiter and anti-Jupiter hemispheres, a phenomenon seen previously by Galileo. The glows do not correlate with infrared thermal emission, suggesting that a non-thermal process is illuminating gas tens of kilometers above volcanos in these locations.

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