NASA’s Juno Peers Beneath Io’s Surface

NASA News reports that the Juno spacecraft has used its Microwave Radiometer to peer beneath the surface of Jupiter's moon Io. The instrument can penetrate six to twenty feet into Io's crust to detect subsurface heat, revealing a striking pattern of temperature gradients across the moon. The most intense heat anomaly appears in the upper-left region, where subsurface temperatures are eighteen to thirty-six degrees Fahrenheit warmer than surrounding areas—a region that coincides with the Zal Montes Patera complex, where Juno observed active lava flows. A second major heat source lies near the equator. These subsurface patterns indicate significant internal heating within the upper tens of meters of Io's crust, giving scientists a window into the geothermal dynamics of one of the solar system's most volcanically active bodies.

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