NASA Spots a Volcanic Hotspot on Io

NASA‘s Juno Mission recently spotted powerful volcanic activity on Jupiter’s moon Io. The hotspot is said to be larger than Lake Superior (which, if you didn’t know, is 31,700 square miles).

The source of Io’s torment: Jupiter. About the size of Earth’s Moon, Io is extremely close to the mammoth gas giant, and its elliptical orbit whips it around Jupiter once every 42.5 hours. As the distance varies, so does the planet’s gravitational pull, which leads to the moon being relentlessly squeezed. The result: immense energy from frictional heating that melts portions of Io’s interior, resulting in a seemingly endless series of lava plumes and ash venting into its atmosphere from the estimated 400 volcanoes that riddle its surface.

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