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Glossary term: Io

Description: Io is a moon or satellite orbiting around Jupiter, discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. It is the closest of the four largest satellites of Jupiter. Io orbits around Jupiter every 42.5 hours, at a distance of 422,000 kilometers from the planet. Io has many active volcanoes on its surface as a consequence of strong tidal forces experienced by the satellite while revolving around Jupiter.

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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".

Related Media


The planet Jupiter, seen here as a bright disk, is orbited by the four Galilean moons, seen here as bright dots

Jupiter Moons Movie2, by Nicolas Hurez, Paul-Antoine Matrangolo, and Carl Pennypacker, United States of America

Caption: Second place in the 2021 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Galilean moons. This sequence shows the orbit of the four Galilean moons around the planet Jupiter. Almost two entire orbits of the innermost moon, Io, can be seen, with the other moons (Europa and Ganymede, but in particular Callisto) being further away, orbiting noticeably slower. The images were obtained in 2018 with the Las Cumbres Global Observatory at different locations on Earth, allowing a continuous sequence of images over approximately half a week without gaps during the day. With clear skies and over the course of several nights, the motion of the Galilean moons can also be observed with binoculars (ideally steady your elbows on a surface).
Credit: Nicolas Hurez, Paul-Antoine Matrangolo and Carl Pennypacker/IAU OAE

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Jupiter with coloured horizontal bands of clouds. The shadow of the moon Io is seen as a dark circle in the top left

Jupiter, Io and its shadow, by Ralf Burkart, Germany

Caption: First place in the 2021 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Galilean moons. This time-lapse of Jupiter taken in 2017 from Germany beautifully illustrates the transit of one of the Galilean moons, Io, in front of Jupiter. As this is simply a moon casting a shadow on a planet it is equivalent to a lunar eclipse on Earth observed from further away. While the shadow of the moon is clearly visible from the beginning, it might be difficult to spot the moon itself against the background of the beautiful atmospheric bands of Jupiter the first time the video is seen. Watching it repeatedly allows appreciating the rapid motion and rotation in this fantastic observation.
Credit: Ralf Burkart/IAU OAE

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Io is roughly spherical. Its surface mostly consists of yellowish sulphuric compounds and rather small darker volcanos.

Io

Caption: NASA's Galileo spacecraft acquired its highest resolution images of Jupiter's moon Io on 3 July 1999. Io is one of the four Jovian moons discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Io's colours are witness to its extensive volcanic activity as they stem from sulphuric compounds. Tidal forces from Jupiter and the neighbouring moons are the cause for Io's volcanism.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona credit link

License: PD Public Domain icons

Related Activities


Children's Planetary Maps: Io

Children's Planetary Maps: Io

 astroEDU educational activity (links to astroEDU website)
Description: Learn about the most geologically active world in our Solar System

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

Tags: Maps , Planetary cartography , Spatial thinking
Age Ranges: 6-8 , 8-10 , 10-12 , 12-14
Education Level: Middle School , Primary , Secondary
Areas of Learning: Social Research
Costs: Low Cost
Duration: 2 hours
Group Size: Group
Skills: Analysing and interpreting data , Asking questions , Communicating information , Constructing explanations , Developing and using models , Engaging in argument from evidence , Planning and carrying out investigations

The Office of Astronomy for Education is hosted by the Haus der Astronomie on the campus of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg. The Office of Astronomy for Education is an office of the International Astronomical Union, with substantial funding from the Klaus Tschira Foundation and the Carl Zeiss Foundation. The Shaw-IAU Workshops on Astronomy for Education
are funded by the Shaw Prize Foundation.