CNN - Jupiter's fiery moon Io resembles Earth of long ago - November 19, 1999
ad info




CNN.com
 MAIN PAGE
 WORLD
 U.S.
 LOCAL
 POLITICS
 WEATHER
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 TECHNOLOGY
* SPACE
 HEALTH
 ENTERTAINMENT
 BOOKS
 TRAVEL
 FOOD
 ARTS & STYLE
 NATURE
 IN-DEPTH
 ANALYSIS
 myCNN

 Headline News brief
 news quiz
 daily almanac

  MULTIMEDIA:
 video
 video archive
 audio
 multimedia showcase
 more services

  E-MAIL:
Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists.
Enter your address:
Or:
Get a free e-mail account

 DISCUSSION:
 message boards
 chat
 feedback

  CNN WEB SITES:
CNN Websites
 AsiaNow
 En Español
 Em Português
 Svenska
 Norge
 Danmark
 Italian

 FASTER ACCESS:
 europe
 japan

 TIME INC. SITES:
 CNN NETWORKS:
Networks image
 more networks
 transcripts

 SITE INFO:
 help
 contents
 search
 ad info
 jobs

 WEB SERVICES:

  sci-tech > space > story pagecorner  

Jupiter's fiery moon Io resembles Earth of long ago

vulcano
High-resolution Galileo image of Prometheus, an active volcano on Io  

November 19, 1999
Web posted at: 5:38 p.m. EST (2238 GMT)

PASADENA, California (CNN) -- "It makes Dante's 'Inferno' seem like just another day in paradise," says Dr. Alfred McEwen of Jupiter's fiery moon Io, the most volcanic body in the universe.

Aided by detailed pictures gathered by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in October, the scientist describes a torrid landscape of gigantic lava flows and lava lakes and giant tumbling mountains twice as tall as anything on Earth at up to 52,000 feet (16 kilometers).

  IMAGE GALLERY
The latest Io images
 
  MESSAGE BOARD
Stargazing
 
  VIDEO
Zoom in on Prometheus
1.3 K / 26 sec. / 240x180
QuickTime movie
Please enable Javascript
 

In line with McEwen's vernacular, Earth itself must at one time must have also looked like Dante's "Inferno," although there was no one around millions of years ago to take note of it. The Galileo imaging team said the vast lava lakes, some as large as most eastern U.S. states, and fierce volcanic activity on Io suggest an environment similar to what Earth was like eons ago.

"Io is the next best thing to traveling back in time to Earth's earlier years," said Project Scientist Torrence Johnson. It gives us an opportunity to watch, in action, phenomena long dead in the rest of the solar system."

The Jupiter moon is roughly the size of Earth's moon.

McEwen, of the University of Arizona, Tucson is a member of the Galileo imaging team. At a Friday press conference, he and other team members unveiled findings from Galileo's October 11 flyby of the Jovian moon, when the spacecraft dipped to within 380 miles (611 kilometers) of Io's surface.

It will make an even closer pass -- an altitude of only 186 miles (300 kilometers) -- on November 25. That mission may be near the last for the sturdy craft, which has orbited Jupiter since December 7, 1995.

Galileo 'a bit past its warranty'

Scientists at Friday's briefing said the craft had taken something of a beating, largely from intense radiation from Jupiter's radiation belts, and one noted, "It's a bit past its warranty."

Loki, one of three volcanoes focused upon and the most powerful, not just on Io but in the entire solar system, consistently puts out more heat than all of Earth's active volcanoes, scientists said.

Equipment aboard Galileo has provided scientists with detailed temperature maps of Loki, whose caldera, or crater, is larger than the state of Maryland.

Observations of another of volcano, Prometheus, showed a puzzling pattern where a new lava flow and a plume erupt from a point 60 miles (100 kilometers) from where it was observed by NASA's voyager spacecraft in 1979.

New Galileo data carify where lava is erupting, advancing and producing plumes. The most unexpected result, the panel said, is that the 50 mile (75 kilometers) tall plume erupts from under a lava flow far from the main volcano.

The plume is fed by vaporized sulfur dioxide-rich snow under the lava flow, the scientists said.




RELATED STORIES:
NASA: Volcano on Io producing lava flows, tubes
November 5, 1999
Galileo space probe flys by Jupiter's volcanic moon
ctober 11, 1999
Galileo returns closeups of volcanic Io
August 27, 1999
Scientists discover key to Io light show
August 5, 1999

RELATED SITES:
Galileo Project Home
NASA Io Flyby page
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
 LATEST HEADLINES:
SEARCH CNN.com
Enter keyword(s)   go    help

Back to the top   © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.