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NASA's Juno Captures Lava Channel Thermal Emissions at Zal Patera

Dec. 12, 2024
The Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) on NASAs Juno spacecraft made this observation on Dec. 30, 2023, of a thermal emission feature and a linear emission segment to the west of South Zal Mons.

The Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) on NASA's Juno spacecraft made this first-of-a-kind observation on Dec. 30, 2023, of an elongated, 40-mile-long (65-kilometer-long), curvy thermal emission feature and a shorter linear emission segment to the west of South Zal Mons. The resolution is 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) per pixel.

The feature is suspected to be an active lava channel, given the similarity of its morphology to that of the two previously identified lava channels on Io. The shape of the Ionian lava channel near Hi'iaka Montes is compared to the SRU emission feature in the left panel. Juno's infrared camera, JIRAM, observed a long thermal emission "hot spot" at lower resolution (19 miles, or 30 kilometers, per pixel) in May 2023 at the same location (JIRAM infrared data is overlaid on the SRU image in the right panel, illustrating the overlap).

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

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