Close-up images were planned during Pioneer 10s encounter with Io, but those observations were lost because of the high-radiation environment. The camera on board Pioneer 11 took the only good image of Io obtained by either spacecraft, showing its north polar region. The Pioneers also revealed the presence of a thin atmosphere at Io and intense radiation belts near the orbit of Io. As soon as volcanic gases rise into the air they quickly begin to freeze. Although Ios volcanic vents are very hot, much of the moons surface is frigid (150 degrees or more below 0 C) and Ios thin atmosphere is space-cold. Radio tracking provided an improved estimate of Io's mass, which, along with the best available information of Io's size and was composed primarily of silicate rock rather than water ice. Snow on Io is made of sulfur-dioxide that condenses within high-flying plumes. The first spacecraft to pass by Io were the twin Pioneer 10 and 11 probes on 3 December 1973 and 2 December 1974. Further observations have been made by Cassini–Huygens in 2000 and New Horizons in 2007, as well as from Earth-based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope. These spacecraft also revealed the relationship between Io and Jupiter's magnetosphere and the existence of a belt of high-energy radiation centered on Io's orbit. The Galileo spacecraft performed several close flybys in the 1990s and early 2000s, obtaining data about Io's interior structure and surface composition. So the gravity, of course, pulls less on you. Image: NASA/Newsmaker ( Getty Images) There are just eight planets in our Solar System (sorry. Orbiting 422000 kilometers above Jupiter, Io is the innermost of the four Galilean. Published JComments ( 18) Alerts Io, a volcanically active moon orbiting Jupiter. A person who weighs 200 pounds (90kg) on Earth would weigh about 36 pounds (16kg) on Io. Io is probably one of the most well-known moons in the solar system. If you stood on the surface of Io, you would weigh less than you do on Earth. Earth's moon works the same way, which is why we only see one side of the moon from earth. Since these numbers are the same, it means that the same side of Io always faces Jupiter. It also takes 42 hours for Io to complete one orbit around Jupiter. It takes 42 hours (1¾ Earth days) for Io to rotate on its axis. It only has a mass of about 1.4% of the mass of Earth. Io is one of these four, and the third largest. It was discovered in 1610 and was named after the mythological character Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of Zeus' partners.īy most counts, Jupiter has between 80 and 95 moons, but only four are large ones comparable to our Moon. It is the fourth-largest moon, has the highest density of all the moons, and has the least amount of water of any known astronomical object in the Solar System. Io ( Jupiter I) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter.
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