October 2014
Katherine de Kleer
Gemini Captures Extreme
Eruption on Io
A brief exposure of Jupiter’s volcanically active moon Io taken at the
W.M. Keck Observatory spurred on a team of researchers to use Gemini
North to capture a volcanic blast on Io so powerful that it rates as one
of the largest volcanic events ever recorded in the Solar System. A series
of follow-up observations with both Gemini North and NASA’s Infrared
Telescope Facility allowed the team to monitor the event’s evolution for
nearly two weeks. The results provide us with a critical new perspective on
the frequency and magnitude of these fantastic outburst events. (See the
Gemini press release on this result here.)
The Gemini Near-Infrared Imager (NIRI) captured one of the brightest and most powerful volcanic eruptions ever detected on Io, the most volcanically active body in the Solar System.
The temperature and scale of these events give us a glimpse into volcanism in Earth’s early
history, while this occurrence — within weeks of two other powerful eruptions on Io — suggests that we may have underestimated the frequency of extreme volcanic events on this
active Jovian moon.
Volcanism in the Early Solar System
In the Solar System’s early history, the planets had hotter interiors than they do today due to
the heat produced by accretion and differentiation of matter during planetary formation, as
well as radioactive decay of short-lived naturally occurring elements.
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GeminiFocus
2014 Year in Review
January 2015