Extreme temperatures in the interior of Io

The moon Io is slightly larger than our Moon; it has a diameter of 3,643 km compared to the Moon's 3,475 km. So, it is a bit bigger, but it is also very strange—truly bizarre—because it is a volcanic moon. It is the fourth-largest moon in the solar system, following Ganymede, Titan, and Callisto. And what we have now are measurements published on July 22, 2026, regarding the temperature beneath Io's surface.

The dark patches you see below are mountains—Io's incredibly strange mountains. They are very tall and isolated; they don't form ranges. They are believed to be rocky crustal material that gets crushed when lava flows occur, because the rest of Io's landscape is very flat. Furthermore, it is covered in something resembling foam—very fine and spongy, much like volcanic ash.

What has been calculated—what we now know—is that the temperature just a few meters below Io's surface is already 22°C. Naturally, this is due to the moon's internal heat. To put it in perspective compared to Earth: the internal heat flow warming Io's surface is about 30 times greater than the internal heat flow warming Earth's surface. Earth's ground is slightly warmer than it would be if it didn't receive heat from the Sun; in fact, if you go deep underground—to a depth that varies by location, perhaps 1,000 or 2,000 meters—the heat becomes stifling. The record for depth is held by gold mines in South Africa—I believe around 2,000 meters—where the heat is suffocating because it intensifies as you descend.

Entonces, ese calor interno es 30 veces mayor, es decir, a unos pocos metros ya estarías a 22º Celsius y a unas pocas decenas de metros ya el calor sería insoportable, esto bajo la superficie porque en la superficie la temperatura sigue siendo extremadamente fría, -10º Celsius, también otra característica de ello es que no es muy bueno, no es un lugar que te vamos visitar los humanos porque la cantidad de radiación que recibe de Júpiter es enorme, de hecho, un astronauta con un traje normal de astronauta, sin protecciones extra, ni especiales, ni blindado, terminaría recibiendo una cantidad, una dosis de radiación mortal al cabo de unas 4 o 6 horas nada más estando en IO.

There is another interesting fact about this moon: Jupiter will likely end up tearing it apart—destroying and annihilating it, turning it into fragments and dust—because it is drawing ever closer to the planet. In fact, it is a volcanic moon; among Jupiter's four large moons, it is the one closest to the planet. Tidal and gravitational forces stretch and compress its core, heating it intensely. All this internal volcanic energy and heat stems from that gravitational interaction caused by its proximity to Jupiter—a distance that continues to shrink. Eventually, it will get so close that Jupiter's tidal forces will shatter it completely. Jupiter will effectively become a new "Saturn," though with rings far more massive than Saturn's—since the mass of Io vastly exceeds the total mass of the material in Saturn's rings. They would be truly gigantic rings, yet dark and black in color, as the moon is extremely dry; in fact, I believe it is the driest body in the solar system.

When it is destroyed, huge chunks—hundreds of kilometers in diameter—will be created and likely flung out in all directions. Hopefully, Jupiter will capture them all, but some will almost certainly head toward the inner solar system and cause a major disaster, given just how large this moon is.

Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about #science, #planet, #politics, #rights #crypto, #traveling and discovering secrets and beauties of the #universe, feel free to Follow me as these are the topics I write about the most. Have a wonderful day and stay on this great platform :) :)

! The truth will set us free and science is the one that is closest to the truth!

---