Probing Jupiter's Moon Io for a Magma Ocean

Io's extensive volcanism was predicted in 1979 as a consequence of Europa and Ganymede's gravitational influence on Io's orbit around Jupiter. Less than a week later, this was confirmed by Voyager 1 observations of volcanic plumes on Io's surface. Decades later, the Galileo spacecraft (named for Io's discoverer) observed magnetic field variations that hinted a global magma ocean may be swirling beneath Io's surface. Following tradition, I raced to predict if Juno flybys of Io would reveal another signature of a magma ocean from gravity field measurements. In this seminar, I will cover both the geophysical theory used to make my prediction and the spacecraft observational techniques that were needed to confirm it. 

Speaker: Szilard Gyulay, NASA Ames Research Center

Attend in person or watch online (see weblink)

Room 350/372