Jupiter's innermost Galilean moon has a surface full of spectacular hills

A new study by Rutgers University shows a new way to form sand dunes on various celestial surfaces, including Iowa, Jupiter's innermost Galilean moon.

Scientists have long wondered how Jupiter's innermost moon, Io, has the twisting and beautiful protrusions seen in movies like Dune. Now, a Rutgers research study offers a new explanation of how sand dunes form even on the surface of Iowa's frost and violence.

This study, published April 19 in Nature Communications, Based on a study of the physical processes that control the motion of grains, along with the analysis of images from the 14-year mission of the Galileo spacecraft, which made it possible to create the first detailed maps of Jupiter's moons. New research is expected to expand our scientific understanding of the structural features of these planet-like worlds. "Our studies point to the possibility of a structure rich in Iowa hills. "We have proposed a mechanism and conducted experiments that show that sand grains can move and form mounds." Current scientific understanding dictates that mounds are the nature of accumulations or ridges of sand They are gathered by the wind. And scientists in previous studies on Iowa, while describing its surface as having some hill-like features, concluded that these surface features and ridges could not be sand dunes because of the wind forces that blow through Iowa due to The moon's low atmospheres are very weak.

MacDonald said: "According to our research, the environments in which the hills are found are significantly different from the classical and endless desert landscapes in parts of the earth or the imaginary planet Arakis. They are more diverse in the film Don.

The Galileo spacecraft mission, which lasted from 1989 to 2003, recorded many scientific advances that researchers are still studying to date. One of the main data obtained from the data was the high level of volcanic activity in Ivo, which showed that its volcanoes reappear frequently and rapidly in this small universe.

The Ivo surface is a combination of solid lava flows. Black and sand are volatile lava flows and sulfur dioxide snows. "Scientists used mathematical equations to simulate the forces acting on a basalt or ice grain and to calculate its path." It is fast moving grains on the Iowa, possibly allowing large-scale features such as dunes to form.

They examined the surface of Iowa captured by the Galileo spacecraft. They found that the distances between the crowns and their height-to-width ratios were consistent with the trend of sand dunes seen on Earth and other planets. "It gives us a good idea of how the universe works, and ultimately, in the field of planetary science, that 's what we're trying to do," he said.

• The weekly wonders of the solar system that may one day be a tourist destination

Cover photo: Galileo spacecraft looks at Iowa, the third largest moon of Jupiter
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Source: SciTechDaily