FIRE in the JOVIAN SKY

With Jupiter at opposition this month, we have a chance to observe a planet that, along with its moons, has spent centuries in the limelight of scientific study. Jupiter’s icy moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, continue to attract immense interest, not least because liquid water may be sloshing under their frozen shells. But there’s another Jovian satellite every bit as interesting as its ice-encrusted compatriots: Io.

The third largest of the four ‘Galilean’ moons, Io is a volcanic hell – a world stained with putrid hues of yellow, brown and red. It is, in many ways, the antithesis of the likes of Europa. Yet that hasn’t stopped researchers from poring over every detail of its surface. With ever improving ground-based technology and the Juno mission currently in the Jovian