Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io is veiled by a thin atmosphere, but how much its volcanoes and chunks of frozen gas contribute to its atmosphere has puzzled scientists for decades. The New Horizons spacecraft recently documented the moon’s glowing aurora, giving researchers a chance to solve the atmospheric mystery. About 1 to 3 percent of Io’s dayside atmosphere, it turns out, is created by the volcanoes. The rest is generated from frozen sulfur dioxide that has accumulated on the surface over the course of eons and turns directly into gas when warmed.
Mystery of Io’s Atmosphere Solved