NASA's Juno Detects Record-Breaking Volcanic Eruption on Jupiter's Moon Io

The spacecraft identified a massive hotspot near Io's south pole, emitting six times the energy of all Earth's power plants combined.

Juno's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) detected a volcanic hotspot in Io's southern hemisphere during a flyby on December 27, 2024.
The hotspot spans 40,000 square miles, making it significantly larger than Io's previous record-holder, Loki Patera, and is the most intense eruption ever recorded on the moon.
The eruption's radiance exceeded 80 trillion watts, equivalent to six times the total energy output of all Earth's power plants.
Io's extreme volcanic activity is driven by tidal heating caused by gravitational interactions with Jupiter and neighboring moons, leading to internal frictional heating.
Juno will conduct another flyby of Io on March 3, 2025, to further investigate the hotspot and its potential long-term surface impacts.