{"id":781481,"date":"2024-04-27T05:35:53","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T10:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=781481"},"modified":"2024-04-27T05:35:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T10:35:53","slug":"ios-volcanoes-have-been-erupting-for-billions-of-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=781481","title":{"rendered":"Io\u2019s volcanoes have been erupting for billions of years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Io&#039;s BILLIONS of Years of Volcanoes\" width=\"1110\" height=\"833\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6w0X2_Xj32I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>EarthSky\u2019s Deborah Byrd created this 1-minute video summary for you, on Io\u2018s volcanoes.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jupiter\u2019s rocky moon Io is the most volcanically active world<\/strong> in the solar system. It has hundreds of volcanoes, some with erupting lava fountains dozens of miles (kilometers) high.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Io\u2019s volcanoes have been active for billions of years<\/strong>, a new study says, ever since Io first formed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>How do they know?<\/strong> The researchers studied the ratio of different light and heavy sulfur isotopes in Io\u2019s thin atmosphere. The results suggest the volcanoes\u2019 age, and also provide clues about how much sulfur Io has lost since its formation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jupiter\u2019s moon Io is famous for the hundreds of volcanoes dotting its surface. It\u2019s the most volcanically active world in our solar system. But how long has Io had its active volcanoes? Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), New York University and NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center said on April 18, 2024, that Io\u2019s volcanoes have been erupting for <em>billions<\/em> of years, since just after the little moon 1st formed, along with our sun, Jupiter, Earth and the rest of our solar system. <\/p>\n<p>The conclusions are based on new analysis of sulfur in Io\u2019s thin atmosphere. That makes sense, because sulfur plays a key role on Io\u2019s surface and in its atmosphere. Some of Io\u2019s volcanoes spew sulfur and sulfur dioxide in great plumes extending miles (kilometers) above Io\u2019s surface. Extensive plains of sulfur lie in a frosty coating on most of Io\u2019s surface. <\/p>\n<p>If you could stand on Io without a spacesuit (not literally possible since Io is bathed in extreme radiation from Jupiter), you\u2019d find it smells like rotten eggs, due to its sulfur.  Now that sulfur has provided clues to the history of Io\u2019s active volcanoes.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers published their peer-reviewed findings in two new papers on April 18, one in <em>Science<\/em> and the other in <em>JGR Planets<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Help spread the wonders of astronomy! Please donate now to EarthSky.org and ensure that people around the world can learn about the night sky and our universe.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_472199\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-472199\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-472199\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View larger. | NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft captured this detailed view of Jupiter\u2019s moon Io on October 15, 2023. Io\u2019s volcanoes were the focus of a new study, which concludes they are billions of years old, originating from a time when the moon first formed. Image via NASA\/ JPL-Caltech\/ SwRI\/ MSSS\/ Ted Stryk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>New analysis of sulfur isotopes from Io\u2019s volcanoes<\/h3>\n<p>So, Io\u2019s volcanoes emit <em>a lot<\/em> of sulfur. And Io\u2019s atmosphere is 90% sulfur dioxide. The research team conducted an analysis of isotopes of Io\u2019s atmospheric sulfur. This provided clues as to how long Io has been in orbital Laplace resonance with two other moons: Europa and Ganymede. <\/p>\n<p>In other words, Io completes four orbits of Jupiter for every two orbits of Europa and one orbit of Ganymede. As a result, the moons all pull on each other gravitationally. This causes their orbits to be elliptical rather than circular. And in turn, Jupiter\u2019s strong gravity then heats the interiors of the moons. This is why Europa and Ganymede have subsurface oceans and Io has magma and volcanism.<\/p>\n<p>By analyzing the isotopes, scientists could tell how long Io has been in orbital resonance and, therefore, volcanically active. To do this, they used the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile.<\/p>\n<p>The sulfur atoms on Io have various isotopes. That is, they have varying numbers of neutrons. Sulfur-32 and sulfur-34 both have 16 protons, but the first has 16 neutrons, while the second has 18. The more neutrons an atom has, the heavier it is. On Io, the heaviest sulfur atoms are at the bottom of the atmosphere, while the lightest are near the top.<\/p>\n<h3>Ever-changing surface and atmosphere<\/h3>\n<p>Even though Io overall is billions of years old, just like all the other bodies in the solar system, its surface is only about a million years old. This is because its surface is always being replenished by new material from its numerous volcanoes.<\/p>\n<p>Io\u2019s atmosphere is always changing, too. Collisions with charged particles in Jupiter\u2019s magnetic field strip away the already-thin atmosphere into space. This happens at a rate of one ton per second. Therefore, the lighter sulfur isotope at the top of the atmosphere, sulfur-32, gets depleted faster. By calculating how much sulfur-32 is missing, the researchers can determine how long Io has been volcanically active.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Looking Into Io\u2019s Loki Patera (Artist\u2019s Concept)\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lg2Szj_OG_Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>This animation is an artist\u2019s concept of Loki Patera, a lava lake on Io, made by using data from the JunoCam imager onboard NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft. With multiple islands in its interior, Loki is a depression filled with magma and rimmed with molten lava. Video via NASA\/ JPL-Caltech\/ SwRI\/ MSSS\/ YouTube.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Sulfur ratios<\/h3>\n<p>The researchers looked at the ratio of sulfur-32 to sulfur-34 in Io\u2019s atmosphere. In the early solar system, the ratio was about 23 atoms of sulfur-32 for every one atom of sulfur-34. That ratio is the same today for any body that has remained unchanged since it first formed. But that\u2019s not the case with Io. By far, most of its original sulfur \u2013 92 to 99% \u2013 has been lost. Even though so much of the original sulfur \u2013 the lighter isotope sulfur-32 in particular \u2013 has been lost, this also shows Io must have been volcanically active since soon after its formation.<\/p>\n<p>And that, in turn, shows Io has been in a Laplace orbital resonance with Europa and Ganymede for just as long.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_472202\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-472202\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/04\/Io-sulfur-cycle-conceptual-model-April-18-2024.jpg\" alt=\"Diagram of Io atmosphere. Circles with smaller circles inside them representing types of gases, with labels.\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-472202\" srcset=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/04\/Io-sulfur-cycle-conceptual-model-April-18-2024.jpg 800w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/04\/Io-sulfur-cycle-conceptual-model-April-18-2024-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/04\/Io-sulfur-cycle-conceptual-model-April-18-2024-768x480.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-472202\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View larger. | Conceptual model of the sulfur cycle on Io. Image via Hughes et al.\/ JGR Planets (CC BY 4.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>History of Io\u2019s volcanoes<\/h3>\n<p>While the new findings show Io has always been volcanically active, there are still various possible specific scenarios for the history of the moon. This includes the possibility that Io was once even more volcanically active early on than it is now. As Ery Hughes, formerly from Caltech and co-author of the first paper in <em>Science<\/em>, explained:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Because lots of the light sulfur is missing, the atmosphere we measure today is relatively \u2018heavy\u2019 in terms of sulfur. Key to achieving such heavy sulfur in Io\u2019s atmosphere is the process of burying the heavy sulfur back into Io\u2019s interior, so that it can be released by volcanoes over and over again. Our modeling shows that sulfur gets trapped in the crust of Io by reactions between the sulfur-rich frosts, which are deposited from the atmosphere and the magma itself, allowing it to be eventually buried into Io\u2019s interior.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>On April 18, 2024, NASA also released new video animations of a lava lake and steeple-like mountain on Io. Check them out!<\/p>\n<p>Bottom line: A new study reveals Io\u2019s volcanoes have been erupting for billions of years, ever since the small moon of Jupiter first formed.<\/p>\n<p>Source: Isotopic evidence of long-lived volcanism on Io<\/p>\n<p>Source: Using Io\u2019s Sulfur Isotope Cycle to Understand the History of Tidal Heating<\/p>\n<p>Via Caltech<\/p>\n<p>Read more: Jupiter\u2019s moon Io as you\u2019ve never seen it<\/p>\n<p>Read more: Jupiter\u2019s moon Io: Global magma ocean, or hot metal core?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"cp-load-after-post\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post-author\">\n<h4>Paul Scott Anderson<\/h4>\n<p>                    View Articles\n                  <\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-tags\">\n<h6 data-udy-fe=\"text_7c58270d\">About the Author:<\/h6>\n<p>Paul Scott Anderson has had a passion for space exploration that began when he was a child when he watched Carl Sagan\u2019s Cosmos. While in school he was known for his passion for space exploration and astronomy. He started his blog The Meridiani Journal in 2005, which was a chronicle of planetary exploration. In 2015, the blog was renamed as Planetaria. While interested in all aspects of space exploration, his primary passion is planetary science. In 2011, he started writing about space on a freelance basis, and now currently writes for AmericaSpace and Futurism (part of Vocal). He has also written for Universe Today and SpaceFlight Insider, and has also been published in The Mars Quarterly and has done supplementary writing for the well-known iOS app Exoplanet for iPhone and iPad.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/space\/ios-volcanoes-sulfur-orbital-resonance\/?rand=772280\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EarthSky\u2019s Deborah Byrd created this 1-minute video summary for you, on Io\u2018s volcanoes. Jupiter\u2019s rocky moon Io is the most volcanically active world in the solar system. It has hundreds&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":781482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=781481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/781482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=781481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=781481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=781481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}