Description
NASA's Juno spacecraft captured these images showing surface changes at Nusku Patera (center in each sub-figure) on Jupiter's moon Io.
A red ring formed around Nusku Patera in the two months between the spacecraft's 58th flyby on Feb. 3, 2024, and its 60th on April 9, 2024. The ring obscures some nearby features like Creidne Patera. This ring, 683 miles (1,100 kilometers) wide is likely from a Pele-type plume rich in sulfur. Similar transient red rings were observed by NASA's Galileo mission around Grian Patera and Surt and were associated with intense but short-lived thermal "outburst" eruptions.
More information about Juno is at https://www.nasa.gov/juno and https://missionjuno.swri.edu.
