NASA has reported a powerful volcanic event on Jupiter's satellite Io

The most powerful volcanic event ever recorded in the solar system is now taking place on Jupiter's satellite Io. This was reported by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on January 29.

It is specified that researchers of the Juno mission have discovered a volcanic hot spot in the southern hemisphere of Io. This hot spot is not only larger than the size of Earth's Lake Superior (the largest and deepest in the Great Lakes system), but also emits eruptions that are six times the total energy of all the world's power plants.

"During the long Juno mission, there were two very close flybys near Io. <...> The data from this latest - and more distant - flyby really blew our minds. This is the most powerful volcanic event ever recorded on the most volcanic world in our solar system," said mission principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

The science team estimates that the as yet unnamed object has an area of 100,000 square kilometers, while the total intensity of the new hot spot has exceeded 80 trillion watts.

Jupiter's satellite Io, which is roughly the size of Earth's moon, is very close to the gas giant, its elliptical orbit revolving around Jupiter every 42.5 hours. As the distance changes, so do changes in the planet's gravitational pull, causing its moon to constantly shrink. The enormous energy released by friction melts part of Io's interior, leading to an endless series of eruptions of the 400 or so volcanoes that dot its surface.

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Earlier, January 21, it was reported that astronomers recorded blowing with a record speed of 33 thousand km / h wind on the equator of the giant exoplanet WASP-127b. The discovery was made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT ESO). The planet was discovered in 2016, and astronomers have been actively studying its weather since then. The gas giant is located more than 500 light-years from Earth. For comparison, the fastest wind ever measured in the solar system was found on the planet Neptune and blew at a speed of 1.8 thousand kilometers per hour.