Juno Captures Lava Lake Chors Patera on Io

This graphic shows the infrared radiance of Chors Patera, a lava lake on Jupiter's moon Io. It was created using infrared data collected by the JIRAM (Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper) instrument aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft during a flyby of the moon on Oct. 15, 2023. The lake is about 31 miles (50 kilometers) wide.

Juno scientists believe the majority of the lake is covered with a thick crust of molten material (appearing red/green in graphic, inside the white ring) that is approximately minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 43 degrees Celsius) at its surface. The white ring indicates where lava from Io's interior is directly exposed to space, providing the geologic feature's hottest thermal signature: between 450 and 1,350 F (232 and 732 C). The area in green, outside the lava lake, is very cold: about minus 225 F (minus 143 C).

JIRAM "sees" infrared light not visible to the human eye. In this composite image, the measurements of thermal emissions radiated from the planet were in the infrared wavelength between 4.5 and 5 microns.

More information about Juno is online at http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu.