Scientists believe that there is a huge ocean on Jupiter’s moon Io, but not water at all.
None of the known satellites of planets in the solar system can compare with the third largest satellite of Jupiter – Io. This is the most volcanic world on which there are several hundred active volcanoes. Scientists believe something unusual must be lurking beneath its surface, he writes Daily beast.
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Scientists Yoshinori Miyazaki and David Stevenson of the California Institute of Technology, USA, believe that a huge magma ocean lies beneath the entire surface of Io.
This very hot layer of molten rock on Jupiter’s moon, 3,500 km in diameter, could be unique to solar system worlds, scientists say. This ocean could hold the secrets of how satellites and planets form and even harbor exotic alien life.
Scientists have long debated what lies beneath Io’s crust, which is about 20 km thick. As part of a new study, scientists have once again analyzed data from the Galileo spacecraft, which completed its work in 2003. Some scientists have already suggested that Io has a subsurface ocean of magma or something like a similar rocky outer mantle to a sponge soaked in magma.
Photo: NASA
But Miyazaki and Stevenson came to the conclusion that there is an ocean of molten rock. They believe Io’s upper mantle could reach over 1,500 degrees Celsius.
“The amount of internal heat on Io is not sufficient to maintain a high degree of melting of the rock. This means that there is still an ocean of magma beneath the surface, which is sustained by volcanic eruptions and rotations in a highly elongated orbit around Jupiter,” the scientists say.
Miyazaki said that the Juno spacecraft will explore Io in 2023 and 2024 and will be able to confirm the hypotheses of scientists.
Photo: NASA
“I don’t think this discovery will change our understanding of planetary formation much, but it does change our view of the internal structure and thermal evolution of bodies like Io,” says David Grinspoon of the Planetary Science Institute, Arizona, USA.
“As for extraterrestrial life, some scientists suggest it could all be found on Mars, and Venus, and Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Theoretically, life could be on Io. But there are too many volcanoes, so if it develops there , life, is probably a very strange life that really likes heat,” says Miyazaki.
As already written Focusscientists discovered a mysterious phenomenon on Io and perhaps this satellite of Jupiter is similar to one of the planets described in the books of the Dune series.
Also Focus wrote it mysterious new image of Jupiter help scientists find extraterrestrial life.
As for the Juno spacecraft, as I already wrote Focushe did Stunning new images of Jupiter’s atmosphere.
