14 DAY TRIAL // For years, astronomers believed that the Jovian moon Io – the most volcanically-active body in the solar system – had a certain distribution of mass below its surface, to account for all the eruptions. A new map of the object's volcanoes shows that the model was wrong all along.
According to scientists, the moon has over 400 active volcanoes, which constantly renew its surface, as more and more material is released to cover up the old crust. Io is even more active than Earth, Space reports.
“The fascinating thing about the distribution of the heat flow is that it is not in keeping with the current preferred model of tidal heating of Io at relatively shallow depths. Instead, the main thermal emission occurs about 40 degrees eastward of its expected positions,” says researcher Ashley Davies.
The investigator, a coauthor of a new study detailing the map, holds an appointment with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California. Details of the map appear in the latest issue of the esteemed journal Icarus.