NASA shares never-before-seen images of Jupiter's lava-covered moon, Io

October 22, 2023 2:00 AM

NASA shares never-before-seen images of Jupiter's lava-covered moon, Io. NASA's Juno spacecraft captured data on a flyby of Jupiter's moon Io, one of 92 moons that orbit the gas giant.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (22 comments total)

No monoliths sighted unfortunately.
posted by fortitude25 at 3:10 AM on October 22, 2023

Io you a debt of gratitude for this post. Lovely pics!
posted by Eideteker at 4:33 AM on October 22, 2023 [8 favorites]

Juno better than to make that joke, Eideteker.
posted by terrapin at 5:13 AM on October 22, 2023 [7 favorites]

Looking forward to Juno's upcoming Io flybys in December and February, which will pass even closer than this recent one (about 1500 km).
posted by aught at 6:28 AM on October 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

Press outlet articles are great at moving the story forward, but I always wish they had links to the originals.

Here's the Juno version: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing, and filter the "Submitted by" to Kevin_M_Gill.

(Dear SWRI: please move the "Apply Filters" section to the top of the filters, so it stops expanding off the bottom of the page.)

The Juno press release: https://twitter.com/NASASolarSystem/status/1714296929189052852.

The older James Webb images are at: https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/08/22/webbs-jupiter-images-showcase-auroras-hazes/
posted by SunSnork at 6:59 AM on October 22, 2023 [10 favorites]

No monoliths sighted unfortunately.

Nah, that's chilling over on Phobos.
posted by slater at 9:05 AM on October 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

I recently re-watched 2010: The Year We Make Contact which was made before we knew Jack about Io. But then what a budget busting nightmare that would have been if we did. But all the same, it had Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea, Emily and Zoey Deschanel's mom and Helen Mirren as Soviet cosmonaut Tanya Kirbuk, to boot --- a truly star crossed cast if ever was.
posted by y2karl at 9:29 AM on October 22, 2023 [4 favorites]

Gasp
posted by mule98J at 9:42 AM on October 22, 2023

before we knew Jack about Io

Every time Io comes up I can't remember how bad the radiation is there except that it's really bad, so I go and look it up and

holy shit 36 sieverts per day? Louis Slotin 3 - 5 times every day?

it's always so much worse than the vague "very bad" I remember

I guess what I'm saying is that we need to destroy Jupiter and all its little minions before it's too late
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:46 AM on October 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

It will be Hell on astronomers but make for interesting sunsets.
posted by y2karl at 10:59 AM on October 22, 2023

What's the best place to get the high res photos?
posted by rebent at 11:10 AM on October 22, 2023

we need to destroy Jupiter and all its little minions before it's too late
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace

Eponhysterical!
posted by doctornemo at 11:24 AM on October 22, 2023 [6 favorites]

Excellent images. Thank you, chariot, for the post.

Also, "Velvet Winter" is a great name for a journalist. Or anyone.
posted by doctornemo at 11:25 AM on October 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

Io you a debt of gratitude for this post. Lovely pics!
Juno better than to make that joke, Eideteker.

Come on, terrapin. You should join us later, we’re Ganymede up and make more puns.
posted by MrBadExample at 11:45 AM on October 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

Speak Lo
when you speak Lo to me
Lo has a spark once lost in the dark.
And Toynbee said
Resurrect the dead
Too.
posted by hortense at 12:11 PM on October 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

Another view of Europa from Chesley Bonestell.
posted by y2karl at 12:15 PM on October 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

it had Roy Scheider
worst casting evar.
"Io even has lakes of molten silicate lava on its surface."

IO is the name for the AI in Moonhaven likely a silicate based...AI.....
awesome pictures.
posted by clavdivs at 4:43 PM on October 22, 2023

Im not a scientist, but I have a special fondness for Juno. And an ongoing amazement at all the disciplines involved in engineering such craft, and planning the scientific exploration.

I remember when the five years between launch and reaching Jupiter seemed so lengthy, yet now it's been doing good work there (and sending fab images back) for seven-plus years, and counting.
posted by NorthernLite at 5:54 PM on October 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

What's the best place to get the high res photos?

You get it from the Junocam processing page linked above. But it helps if you filter for Kevin McGill (as written in the tweet linked above) and then show 100 results per page instead of 16:

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing?source=all&ob_from=&ob_to=&users%5B%5D=4882&perpage=100

Then skim down for "Io".

The images aren't super high resolution, because Junocam is just for public outreach, not really for science. Juno almost flew without a camera at all, and thankfully Scott Bolton (and NASA) thought "well that's stupid" and they added a (relatively) cheap camera.
posted by intermod at 6:43 PM on October 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

If you zoom in you can see Sean Connery running around Con-Am 27.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:47 AM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]

I guess what I'm saying is that we need to destroy Jupiter and all its little minions before it's too late

Tell that to the dinosaurs.*







*There's a theory that Jupiter affected the trajectory of the asteroid that wiped out the dinos so that it hit Earth instead of missing it and dooming a future Saurian civilization that spread peace through the stars.
posted by Atreides at 12:58 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Voth in other words.
posted by y2karl at 1:20 PM on October 23, 2023