Io
By Nick N
Io is one of Jupiter's moons. Do you know how many moons Jupiter has? It has 63 known moons, and Io is one of the larger ones.
Picture of Io
Io's surface is very different from our planet. Io's surface is made of volcanic rock, it is completely covered with volcanoes and few to no craters. Io has the most volcanoes in our solar system (more than 200 volcanoes). On Io there is no sunrise or sunset, the only thing you can see in Io's sky is Jupiter. Io is red, yellow, orange, and white on the surface. It is the most colorful moon in the solar system.
Io has a strange position as a moon. It is Jupiter's 3rd biggest moon and is bigger than our moon and it orbits 262,000 miles from Jupiter. Io is in a "tug of war" between Jupiter and larger moons. The stress from the other moons and Jupiter to Io makes Io's surface hotter (about 260 degrees F). It is 2,264 miles in diameter and it's core is made of liquid iron, which gives it a magnetic field able to generate 400,000 volts of electricity.
Io next to Jupiter
Io was discovered on January 8, 1610 by Galileo. It was originally found on January 7, 1610 but it was confused with Europa (another moon of Jupiter). It was first called Jupiter 1 because it is the closest moon to Jupiter. It was named Io in the mid 1800's after the daughter of Inachus (a Greek legend).
Fly-by of erupting volcano on Jupiter's moon, Io
Sources
Davis, Phillips. "Solar System Exploration." Solar System Exploration. NASA Administrator, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.
Io Erupts. N.d. NASA Visualization Explorer. Web. 4 Dec. 2015.
Mana Brau. "Fly-by of Erupting Volcano on Jupiter's Moon, Io." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Dec. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.
Miller, Ron. Seven Wonders of the Gas Giants and Their Moons. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty First Century, 2011. Print.
NASA. Jupiter and Io. Digital image. NASA. NASA Administrator, 23 Mar. 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.
The World Book Encyclopedia 2014. I ed. Vol. 10. Chicago, IL: World Book, 2014. Print.