Magma 'Ocean' Beneath Surface of Jupiter's Moon Io

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (May 12, 2011) — A new analysis of data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft has revealed that beneath the surface of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io is an "ocean" of molten or partially molten magma.


The finding, from a study published May 13 in the journal Science, is the first direct confirmation of such a magma layer on Io and explains why the moon is the most volcanic object known in the solar system. The research was conducted by scientists from UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

"The hot magma in Io's ocean is millions of times better at conducting electricity than rocks typically found on the Earth's surface," said the study's lead author, Krishan Khurana, a former co-investigator on Galileo's magnetometer team and a research geophysicist with UCLA's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. "Just like the waves beamed from an airport metal detector bounce off metallic coins in your pocket, betraying their presence to the detector, Jupiter's rotating magnetic field continually bounces off the molten rocks in Io's interior. The bounced signal can be detected by a magnetometer on a passing spacecraft.

"Scientists are excited that we finally understand where Io's magma is coming from and have an explanation for some of the mysterious signatures we saw in some of Galileo's magnetic field data," Khurana added. "It turns out Io was continually giving off a 'sounding signal' in Jupiter's rotating magnetic field that matched what would be expected from molten or partially molten rocks deep beneath the surface."

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110512150723.htm

[byronius]

1. Oh that is so cool.