Io is the innermost and third-largest of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter. It was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei and was named after the mythological character Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of Zeus’s lovers. With over 400 active volcanoes, Io is the most geologically active object in the Solar System.
About Io (moon) in brief
Io is the innermost and third-largest of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter. It was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei and was named after the mythological character Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of Zeus’s lovers. With over 400 active volcanoes, Io is the most geologically active object in the Solar System. Io’s surface is dotted with more than 100 mountains that have been uplifted by extensive compression at the base of Io’s silicate crust. Some of these peaks are taller than Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth’s surface. Io is primarily composed of silicate rock surrounding a molten iron or iron sulfide core. Its volcanic plumes and lava flows produce large surface changes and paint the surface in various subtle shades of yellow, red, white, black, and green. The materials produced by this volcanism make up Io’s thin, patchy atmosphere and Jupiter’s extensive magnetosphere. Io receives about 3,600 rem of ionizing radiation per day. Io remained just a point of light until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it became possible to resolve its large-scale surface features, such as the dark red polar and bright equatorial regions. In 1979, the two Voyager spacecraft revealed Io to be a geologicallyactive world, with numerous volcanic features, large mountains, and a young surface with no obvious impact craters.
The Galileo spacecraft performed several close flybys in the 1990s and early 2000s, obtaining data about Io’s interior structure and surface composition. Further observations have been made by Cassini–Huygens in 2000, New Horizons in 2007, and Juno since 2017, as well as from Earth-based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope. Io played a significant role in the development of astronomy in the 17th and 18th centuries; discovered in January 1610, along with the other Galilean satellites, this discovery furthered the adoption of the Copernican model of the solar System. Although Simon Marius is not credited with the sole discovery, his names for the moons were adopted. In his 1614 publication Mundus Iovialis anno M. IX Detectus Ope Perspicilli Belgici, he proposed several alternative names, including \”The Mercury of Jupiter\” and \”The First of the Jovian Planets\”. Based on a suggestion from Johannes Kepler in October 1613, he also devised a naming scheme whereby each moon was named for a lover of the Greek mythological Zeus or his Roman equivalent, Jupiter. He named the inner most large moon of Jupiter after theGreek mythological figure Io: Inprimis autem celebrantur tresgines, furtivo am Jupiter. Inachi Amnis videlis videlitis, videlites videlitas. Primus à me vocatur, at Jupiter, Ganymede, Calisto at Io, Europa, ganymedo at Jupiter.
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