Moon plume breaks the record. (Astronomy).The Galileo spacecraft has found the tallest plume of material seen so far on Jupiter's moon Io, the only volcanically active moon known in the solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. . Towering 500 kilometers above Io--more than 50 times the height of Mount Everest and at least 10 percent higher than any previously detected plume--the vented gas emanates from a previously unknown hot spot near the moon's north pole North Pole, northern end of the earth's axis, lat. 90°N. It is distinguished from the north magnetic pole. U.S. explorer Robert E. Peary is traditionally credited as being the first to reach (1909) the North Pole. In 1926, Richard E. . The craft detected the plume on Aug. 6, when it passed within 194 km of Io. Because the aging craft can transmit data only through a low-gain antenna The low-gain antenna (LGA) is an antenna with a broad radiowave beam width. This very wide beam allows for a more reliable signal that is best used in mountainous regions, where the signal will propagate reasonably well regardless of terrain. , it took several weeks for scientists to receive the information. NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. released the findings Oct. 4. Although the craft didn't fly through the plume, it passed near enough for a detector to record particles freshly released from a volcanic eruption. Scientists say that the microscopic particles are frigid clumps of a few sulfur dioxide molecules each. "We've had wonderful images and other remote sensing of the volcanoes on Io before, but we've never caught the hot breath from one of them until now," says Galileo scientist Louis Frank of the University of Iowa Not to be confused with Iowa State University. The first faculty offered instruction at the University in March 1855 to students in the Old Mechanics Building, situated where Seashore Hall is now. In September 1855, the student body numbered 124, of which, 41 were women. in Iowa City. The discovery of the record-setting plume proved especially surprising because Galileo researchers had expected the flyby fly·by also fly-by n. pl. fly·bys A flight passing close to a specified target or position, especially a maneuver in which a spacecraft or satellite passes sufficiently close to a body to make detailed observations without to take the craft directly through gases rising from a volcano called Tvashtar, which lies near Io's north pole. The Tvashtar plume, detected last January by both the Galileo and Cassini probes, isn't even visible in the new Galileo images. However, the August encounter revealed the new hot spot and its even taller plume 600 km southwest of Tvashtar. "The plume we knew about might have settled down before we got there, out this new one sprang up suddenly," says Galileo scientist Rosaly Lopes of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory “JPL” redirects here. For other uses, see JPL (disambiguation). Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a NASA research center located in the cities of Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA. in Pasadena, Calif. Infrared images reveal that Tvashtar remains active, she adds. Galileo took a second look at the new northern hot spot just before the craft passed close to Io's south pole on Oct. 16. Data from that flyby may also provide a closer look at yet another new hot spot that Galileo recently found near the south pole. As a bonus, both the Aug. 6 and Oct. 16 polar passes may also reveal whether Io generates its own magnetic field, as does its sister moon Ganymede. --R.C |
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