NASA Reveals Photo Of Red-Hot Lava On Jupiter's Moon

Io Volcano Observer mission said that the moon is "a true volcanic wonderland with hundreds of erupting volcanoes gushing tons of molten lava."

Jupiter's moon Io was seen in infrared light in a picture taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft from 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometres) away. Flowing lava along with lava lakes can be seen as bright red patches in the image, which was captured on July 5 and released by the American space agency on Wednesday. 

NASA had announced that its Juno mission is scheduled to obtain images of the Jovian moon Io on December 15 as part of its continuing exploration of Jupiter's inner moons."The team is really excited to have Juno's extended mission include the study of Jupiter's moons. With each close flyby, we have been able to obtain a wealth of new information," said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, in a press release. He continued, "Juno sensors are designed to study Jupiter, but we've been thrilled at how well they can perform double duty by observing Jupiter's moons."

The mission which is called Io Volcano Observer (IVO) informed that Io is "a true volcanic wonderland with hundreds of erupting volcanoes gushing tons of molten lava" and sulfurous gases at any moment. Io is subject to harsh tides that strain and crush the moon as it travels along its elliptical course due to the immense gravitational pull of Jupiter and the passing orbital tugs of sibling moons Europa and Ganymede.

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