Because Io is so close to its massive host planet, the moon is subjected to a tremendous gravitational pull as it orbits Jupiter once about every 42 hours, according to the Planetary Society.

NASA / SWRI / MSSS / Jason Perry under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 DEED On Saturday, NASA’s Juno spacecraft traveled closer to Jupiter’s moon Io than any spacecraft has in more than 20 years.

Jupiter has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to moons. Among its 80 known moons is Io, which NASA describes as the most volcanically active world in the solar system.

A NASA spacecraft made its closest-ever approach to Jupiter's moon Io, coming within 930 miles of the "surface of the most volcanic world," and the space agency released new images of the flyby.

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is home to a fascinating array of moons. Among its 90-plus satellites, one stands out for its extraordinary geological activity: Io.

Io is Jupiter's third-largest moon, spanning roughly 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) across, which makes it slightly bigger than Earth's moon.

The mutilated surface of Jupiter’s moon Io was revealed in great detail by the Juno spacecraft, which has been exploring the Jovian system since 2016 and recently pulled off the closest flyby of ...

The volcano-pocked surface of Jupiter’s moon Io was captured in infrared by the Juno spacecraft’s Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) imager as it flew by at a distance of about 50,000 ...

Io orbits Jupiter every 42.5 hours so if you see it on one side of Jupiter tonight it will be located on the opposite side the following night. For every two orbits Io completes, Europa (the next ...

That mission also extends to Jupiter's rings and many moons. In December, Juno came within about 930 miles of Io's surface – equal the distance from New York City to Orlando, Florida.

NASA's robotic Juno spacecraft is delivering the fresh data on Io with a series of flybys, each getting closer to Jupiter's volcanic moon until a pair of close-up encounters at a range of less ...