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Galileo spots new volcanoes on Io

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(All images courtesy NASA)
 

June 1, 2000
Web posted at: 4:52 p.m. EDT (2052 GMT)

(CNN) -- New close-up images of Io document the presence of numerous unknown volcanoes and reveal some spectacular geological changes in familiar ones. Snapped by the Galileo spacecraft, the new photos indicate the Jupiter moon most likely possesses hundreds of volcanoes, scientists said this week.

The high-resolution observations, made during Galileo's closest fly by in February, spotted 10 new volcanoes in a small region. Previously there were only 81 known active volcanoes on Io.

Because the distribution of active volcanoes seems consistent around the moon, Io probably has about 300 of them in all, said Rosaly Lopes-Gautier, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Galileo observed dynamic changes in some of the known volcanoes during flybys in October, November and February.

Some smaller ones changed from hot and glowing caldrons to cool, dim inactive volcanoes within weeks.

Larger ones have remained active for years or decades, based on observations by Galileo and the Voyager spacecraft, which traveled through the Jupiter system in 1979.

Io's Loki is the most powerful volcano in the solar system. Between October and February, hot lava seems to have covered its caldera, or sunken volcanic crater, which spans a region half the size of Massachusetts.

The Tvashtar Catena volcano burst into an extraordinary display in November. It has since waned, as illustrated in the new pictures, but another eruption of hot lava has taken place nearby.

The most recent images capture Chaac Patera, a crater with scalloped edges. Its caldera walls reach about 2.8 km (1.7 miles) high and have a slope of 70 degrees, about twice as high and steep as much of the Grand Canyon.

"The wall rocks must be very strong to support this topography," said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson, a member of the Galileo imaging team, in a statement. "Each volcanic center on Io is proving to have unique characteristics."

One small caldera contains the purest sulfur dioxide on Io, bright white deposits that could be a frozen layer of sulfur dioxide ice, Galileo scientists said.



RELATED STORIES:
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RELATED SITES:
Io
Galileo Project
NASA

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