Jupiter’s moon Io, SHARK-VIS image on January 10, 2024. This is the highest-resolution image of Io ever taken by a ground-based telescope. The image combines three spectral bands – infrared, red and yellow – to highlight the reddish ring around Pele volcano (below and to the right of the moon’s center) and the white ring around Pillan Patera, to the right of Pele. Credit: INAF/Large Binocular Telescope Observatory/Georgia State University; Observations in the IRV band using SHARK-VIS/F. pedicures; edited by D. Hope, S. Jefferies, G. Li Causi
Astronomers caught a volcanic event on JupiterMoon Io at a resolution not previously achieved using Earth-based observations, advancing our understanding of volcanic processes across the Solar System.
New images of Jupiter’s volcano-strewn moon Io, taken by the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona, offer the highest resolution of Io ever obtained by a ground-based instrument. The observations were made possible by a new high-contrast optical imager called SHARK-VIS and the telescope’s adaptive optics system, which compensates for blurring caused by atmospheric turbulence.
Unprecedented details revealed
The pictures will be published in the magazine Geophysical Research Letters, reveal surface features 50 miles across, a spatial resolution previously only achievable by spacecraft sent to Jupiter. That’s equivalent to taking a picture of a dime-sized object from 100 miles away, according to the research team.
SHARK-VIS allowed researchers to identify a significant resurfacing event around Pele, one of Io’s most prominent volcanoes. According to the paper’s first author, Al Conrad, eruptions on Io, the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, outnumber their contemporaries on Earth.
The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer, or LBTI, is a ground-based instrument combining two 8-meter telescopes on Mount Graham in Arizona to form the largest single-mount telescope in the world. The interferometer is designed to detect and study stars and planets outside our solar system. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Volcanic observations from Io
“Therefore, Io presents a unique opportunity to learn about the powerful eruptions that helped shape the surfaces of Earth and the Moon in their distant past,” said Conrad, a scientist at the Large Binocular Observatory. The Large Binocular Telescope, or LBT, is part of the Mount Graham International Observatory, a division of the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory.
Conrad added that studies like this will help researchers understand why some worlds in the solar system are volcanic but others are not. They may also one day shed light on volcanic worlds exoplanet systems around nearby stars.
Gravitational dynamics and volcanism
Slightly larger than Earth’s moon, Io is the innermost of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, which in addition to Io include Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Locked in a gravitational “tug of war” between Jupiter, Europa and Ganymede, Io is constantly compressed, leading to a build-up of frictional heat in its interior – thought to be the cause of its persistent and widespread volcanic activity.
By tracking eruptions on Io’s surface, scientists hope to gain information about the heat-driven movement of material beneath the moon’s surface, its internal structure, and ultimately the tidal heating mechanism responsible for Io’s intense volcanism.
A cross-section of Io’s crust showing scientists’ current knowledge of the geological and chemical processes that shape the surface and create the lunar atmosphere. To the left is a cloud and a red ring of sulfur similar to that which forms the lava lake Pele. Faults in the predominantly cold lithosphere act as pathways for sulphur-rich silicate magma to reach the surface. Io’s interior is heated by the friction caused by the gravitational pull of Jupiter and its two moons, Europa and Ganymede, which create molten magma. Credit: de Pater et al., 2021, Annual Reviews, based on character by Doug Beckner, James Tuttle Keane, Ashley Davies
Historical context and recent discoveries
Volcanic activity on Io was first discovered in 1979 when Linda Morabito, an engineer at NASAThe Voyager mission spotted the eruption cloud in one of the images taken by the spacecraft during its famous “Grand Tour” of the outer planets. Since then, countless observations have been made that document the restless nature of Io, both from space and ground-based telescopes.
Study co-author Ashley Davies, chief scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said the new image taken by SHARK-VIS is so rich in detail that it allowed the team to identify a major resurfacing event in which the cloud settled around a prominent volcano known as Pele, located in Io’s southern hemisphere near the equator. , is covered with eruptive deposits from Pillan Patera, a neighboring volcano. A similar sequence of eruptions was observed by NASA’s Galileo probe, which explored the Jupiter system between 1995 and 2003.
Technological advances in Earth observation
“We interpret the changes as dark lava deposits and white sulfur dioxide deposits originating from the Pillan Patera eruption, partially covering the sulphur-rich Pele red deposit,” Davies said. “Prior to SHARK-VIS, such a reappearance was impossible to observe from Earth.”
While infrared telescope images can detect hot spots caused by ongoing volcanic eruptions, they are not sharp enough to reveal surface details and unambiguously identify eruption sites, explained co-author Imke de Pater, professor emeritus of astronomy at the University of Prague. California – Berkeley.
“Sharper images at visible wavelengths, such as those provided by SHARK-VIS and LBT, are essential for identifying both eruption sites and surface changes that are not detectable in the infrared, such as new deposits,” de Pater said, adding , that visible-light observations provide researchers with important context for interpreting infrared observations, including those from spacecraft such as Juno, which is currently orbiting Jupiter.
Technological advances in observational astronomy
SHARK-VIS was built by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics at the Astronomical Observatory in Rome and is managed by a team led by Principal Investigator Fernando Pedichini, assisted by Project Manager Roberto Piazzesi. In 2023, it was installed along with its complementary near-infrared instrument, SHARK-NIR, at the LBT to take full advantage of the telescope’s excellent adaptive optics system. The instrument houses a fast, ultra-low-noise camera that allows it to observe the sky in “quick imaging” mode, capture slow-motion footage that freezes optical distortion caused by atmospheric turbulence, and then process the data to an unprecedented level. sharpness.
Gianluca Li Causi, data processing manager for SHARK-VIS at the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, explained how it works: “We process our data in a computer to remove any trace of the sensor’s electronic footprint. We then select the best images and combine them using a highly efficient software package called Kraken, developed by our colleagues Douglas Hope and Stuart Jefferies at Georgia State University. Kraken allows us to remove atmospheric effects and reveal Io in incredible sharpness.”
Future Prospects in Solar System Observation
SHARK-VIS instrument scientist Simone Antoniucci said he expects new observations of objects throughout the solar system.
“SHARK-VIS’s sharp vision is particularly suitable for observing the surfaces of many solar system bodies, not only the moons of the giant planets, but also asteroids,” he said. “We have already observed some of them, with the data currently being analyzed, and we plan to observe more.”