{"id":207903,"date":"2025-04-30T02:01:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T16:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=856709"},"modified":"2025-04-30T02:01:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T16:01:54","slug":"nasas-juno-mission-gets-under-jupiters-and-ios-surface","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=207903","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Juno Mission Gets Under Jupiter\u2019s and Io\u2019s Surface"},"content":{"rendered":"
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6 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Enhanced-color<\/a><\/figure>
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JunoCam, the visible light imager aboard NASA\u2019s Juno, captured this enhanced-color view of Jupiter\u2019s northern high latitudes from an altitude of about 36,000 miles (58,000 kilometers) above the giant planet\u2019s cloud tops during the spacecraft\u2019s 69th flyby on Jan. 28, 2025. <\/div>\n
Image data: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS Image processing: Jackie Branc (CC BY)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

New data from the agency\u2019s Jovian orbiter sheds light on the fierce winds and cyclones of the gas giant\u2019s northern reaches and volcanic action on its fiery moon.<\/em><\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Juno mission has gathered new findings after peering below Jupiter\u2019s cloud-covered atmosphere and the surface of its fiery moon, Io. Not only has the data helped develop a new model to better understand the fast-moving jet stream that encircles Jupiter\u2019s cyclone-festooned north pole, it\u2019s also revealed for the first time the subsurface temperature profile of Io, providing insights into the moon\u2019s inner structure and volcanic activity.<\/p>\n

Team members presented the findings during a news briefing in Vienna on Tuesday, April 29, at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything about Jupiter is extreme. The planet is home to gigantic polar cyclones bigger than Australia, fierce jet streams, the most volcanic body in our solar system, the most powerful aurora, and the harshest radiation belts,\u201d said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. \u201cAs Juno\u2019s orbit takes us to new regions of Jupiter\u2019s complex system, we\u2019re getting a closer look at the immensity of energy this gas giant wields.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Made with data from the JIRAM instrument aboard NASA\u2019s Juno, this animation shows the south polar region of Jupiter\u2019s moon Io during a Dec. 27, 2024, flyby. The bright spots are locations with higher temperatures caused by volcanic activity; the gray areas resulted when Io left the field of view.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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NASA\/JPL\/SwRI\/ASI – JIRAM Team (A.M.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Lunar Radiator<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While Juno\u2019s microwave radiometer<\/a> (MWR) was designed to peer beneath Jupiter\u2019s cloud tops, the team has also trained the instrument on Io, combining its data with Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) data for deeper insights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Juno science team loves to combine very different datasets from very different instruments and see what we can learn,\u201d said Shannon Brown, a Juno scientist at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cWhen we incorporated the MWR data with JIRAM\u2019s infrared imagery, we were surprised by what we saw: evidence of still-warm magma that hasn\u2019t yet solidified below Io\u2019s cooled crust. At every latitude and longitude, there were cooling lava flows.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data suggests that about 10% of the moon\u2019s surface has these remnants of slowly cooling lava just below the surface. The result may help provide insight into how the moon renews its surface so quickly as well as how as well as how heat moves from its deep interior to the surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cIo\u2019s volcanos, lava fields, and subterranean lava flows act like a car radiator,\u201d said Brown, \u201cefficiently moving heat from the interior to the surface, cooling itself down in the vacuum of space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking at JIRAM data alone, the team also determined that the most energetic eruption in Io\u2019s history<\/a> (first identified by the infrared imager during Juno\u2019s Dec. 27, 2024, Io flyby) was still spewing lava and ash as recently as March 2. Juno mission scientists believe it remains active today and expect more observations on May 6, when the solar-powered spacecraft flies by the fiery moon at a distance of about 55,300 miles (89,000 kilometers).<\/p>\n

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\"Jupiter\u2019s<\/a><\/figure>
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This composite image, derived from data collected in 2017 by the JIRAM instrument aboard NASA\u2019s Juno, shows the central cyclone at Jupiter\u2019s north pole and the eight cyclones that encircle it. Data from the mission indicates these storms are enduring features.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/ASI\/INAF\/JIRAM<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Colder Climes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On its 53rd orbit (Feb 18, 2023), Juno began radio occultation experiments to explore the gas giant\u2019s atmospheric temperature structure. With this technique, a radio signal is transmitted from Earth to Juno and back, passing through Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere on both legs of the journey. As the planet\u2019s atmospheric layers bend the radio waves, scientists can precisely measure the effects of this refraction to derive detailed information about the temperature and density of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

So far, Juno has completed 26 radio occultation soundings. Among the most compelling discoveries: the first-ever temperature measurement of Jupiter\u2019s north polar stratospheric cap reveals the region is about 11 degrees Celsius cooler than its surroundings and is encircled by winds exceeding 100 mph (161 kph).<\/p>\n

Polar Cyclones<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The team\u2019s recent findings also focus on the cyclones that haunt Jupiter\u2019s north. Years of data from the JunoCam<\/a> visible light imager and JIRAM have allowed Juno scientists to observe the long-term movement of Jupiter\u2019s massive northern polar cyclone and the eight cyclones that encircle it. Unlike hurricanes on Earth, which typically occur in isolation and at lower latitudes, Jupiter\u2019s are confined to the polar region.<\/p>\n

By tracking the cyclones\u2019 movements across multiple orbits, the scientists observed that each storm gradually drifts toward the pole due to a process called \u201cbeta drift\u201d (the interaction between the Coriolis force<\/a> and the cyclone\u2019s circular wind pattern). This is similar to how hurricanes on our planet migrate, but Earthly cyclones break up before reaching the pole due to the lack of warm, moist air needed to fuel them, as well as the weakening of the Coriolis force near the poles. What\u2019s more, Jupiter\u2019s cyclones cluster together while approaching the pole, and their motion slows as they begin interacting with neighboring cyclones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese competing forces result in the cyclones \u2018bouncing\u2019 off one another in a manner reminiscent of springs in a mechanical system,\u201d said Yohai Kaspi, a Juno co-investigator from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. \u201cThis interaction not only stabilizes the entire configuration, but also causes the cyclones to oscillate around their central positions, as they slowly drift westward, clockwise, around the pole.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new atmospheric model helps explain the motion of cyclones not only on Jupiter, but potentially on other planets, including Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the great things about Juno is its orbit is ever-changing, which means we get a new vantage point each time as we perform a science flyby,\u201d said Bolton. \u201cIn the extended mission<\/a>, that means we\u2019re continuing to go where no spacecraft has gone before, including spending more time in the strongest planetary radiation belts in the solar system. It\u2019s a little scary, but we\u2019ve built Juno like a tank<\/a> and are learning more about this intense environment each time we go through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

More About Juno<\/strong><\/h3>\n

NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA\u2019s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency\u2019s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Italian Space Agency funded the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft. Various other institutions around the U.S. provided several of the other scientific instruments on Juno.<\/p>\n

More information about Juno is at: https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/juno<\/a><\/p>\n

News Media Contacts<\/strong><\/h3>\n

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Karen Fox \/ Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Deb Schmid
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
210-522-2254
dschmid@swri.org<\/a><\/p>\n

2025-062<\/p>\n

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