Source: Geophysical Research Letters
Of all known volcanically active worlds in our solar system—including Earth and some moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune—the Jovian moon Io is the most restless. Its surface boasts active lava flows, bubbling lakes of molten lava, and more than 400 volcanoes.
Now, Conrad et al. present the highest-resolution images of Io ever captured by an Earth-based instrument. These visible-wavelength snapshots reveal surface features that hint at a recent powerful eruption on the moon and demonstrate the capability of new technology to dramatically enhance monitoring of Io and other worlds in the solar system.
The technology in question, SHARK-VIS, is a new high-contrast optical imaging instrument installed last year on the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mount Graham in Arizona. SHARK-VIS (System for High Contrast and Coronography from R to K at Visual Bands) mitigates the blurring caused by Earth’s atmospheric turbulence, yielding images that after postprocessing with the Kraken image restoration software, exhibit resolution 3 times that of visible light images obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. Previously, only spacecraft or Hubble could capture visible light images of Io. But LBT can now capture features on Io’s surface fewer than about 80 kilometers across—comparable to taking a picture of a dime-sized object from 100 miles away.
After installation of SHARK-VIS, researchers used the telescope to observe Io in November 2023 and January 2024. Looking closely at the images, they noticed something curious: A well-known, red-hued, annular ring of deposits from a continuously erupting volcano called Pele appeared to have been partially covered over by other multicolored deposits.
By cross-referencing this information with data previously captured by other instruments, the research team concluded that they were most likely looking at the aftermath of a large 2021 eruption of a nearby volcano called Pillan Patera.
Similar resurfacing events might be commonplace on Io. But with spacecraft visits to the moon being few and far between and only low-resolution images previously offered by Earth-based telescopes, researchers have had scant opportunities to detect them.
SHARK-VIS provides the ability to closely monitor Io’s surface for years to come, allowing a deeper understanding of the moon’s dynamic volcanism. The technology should also enable high-resolution images of bodies throughout the solar system, including other moons, planets, and asteroids. (Geophysical Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108609, 2024)
—Sarah Stanley, Science Writer
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