What are jovian planets made of?- What are jovian planets like on the inside?
- What is the weather like on jovian planets?
- What kinds of moons orbit the jovian planets?
- Why are Jupiter's Galilean moons geologically active?
- What geological activity do we see on Titan and other moons?
- Why are jovian moons more geologically active than small rocky planets?
- What are Saturn's rings like?
- Why do the jovian planets have rings?
- Who predicted volcanoes on Io?
Voyager
When the twin probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 passed by Io in 1979, their more advanced imaging system allowed for far more detailed images. Voyager 1 flew past the satellite on March 5, 1979 from a distance of 20,600 km (12,800 mi).[30] The images returned during the approach revealed a strange, multi-colored landscape devoid of impact craters.[31][32] The highest-resolution images showed a relatively young surface punctuated by oddly shaped pits, mountains taller than Mount Everest, and features resembling volcanic lava flows.
Shortly after the encounter, Voyager navigation engineer Linda A. Morabito noticed a plume emanating from the surface in one of the images.[33] Analysis of other Voyager 1 images showed nine such plumes scattered across the surface, proving that Io was volcanically active.[34] This conclusion was predicted in a paper published shortly before the Voyager 1encounter by Stan J. Peale, Patrick Cassen, and R. T. Reynolds. The authors calculated that Io's interior must experience significant tidal heating caused by its orbital resonance with Europa and Ganymede (see the "Tidal heating" section for a more detailed explanation of the process).[35] Data from this flyby showed that the surface of Io is dominated by sulfur and sulfur dioxide frosts. These compounds also dominate its thin atmosphere and the torus of plasma centered on Io's orbit (also discovered by Voyager).[36][37][38]
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