Jupiter's moon, Io – the most volcanic world in the solar system - BBC

Discover Io, the most volcanically active world in the solar system
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#SolarSystem #ProfessorBrianCox #Planets #Space #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Io #Jupiter

[Jwinius]

In this episode, Brian explains that Io's frictional heating is caused by 100 meter tides due by Jupiter's gravity combined with Io's elliptical orbit that gives Io two orbital foci: an empty one towards which Io always faces and the other occupied by Jupiter towards which Io's tides always point (this is in accordance with Kepler's First Law). All true, but I would have explained this differently.
Because Jupiter is so much more massive that Io, the latter is tidally locked with only one side facing Jupiter at all times (the same as Earth's moon). If its orbit around Jupiter was totally circular, the tidal bulge on Io caused by Jupiter's gravity would never move and thus Io would experience no tidal heating. However, because it has an elliptical orbit, it cannot keep one side facing Jupiter exactly at all times, instead rocking back and forth continuously (libration). So, Io's tidal bulge doesn't travel around Io by 360 degrees like Earth's tides do, but rocks back and forth across its surface by around only 0.015 degrees in longitude. For comparison, our Moon has a considerably more elliptical orbit and a correspondingly larger longitudinal libration of up to 7.9 degrees. Yet despite this, Io experiences so much more tidal heating anyway due to Jupiter's enormous mass -- 318 times that of Earth -- while being only 10% further away from Jupiter than the Moon is from Earth.

[julianaylor]

Professor Brian Cox, the Attenborough of astronomy and physics documentaries. ❤

[Sg]

for some reason the video is really blurred for me even when its on hd quality

[JurassicTheory]

Well, now I know where Anakin and Obi-Wan fought each other at the end of Revenge of the Sith 😭

[TungKhwoChi]

is it Io or Lo, I'm confused at the first sight.

[abhishekkumar]

I am from India where can i watch or download for free?

[nadlgs]

Replenished by constant eruption or why?

[endhalf]

How your toilet feels after that spicy Vindaloo from a new street vendor on the block.

[BRancourt]

OT!!!

Benny Hill considered funnier than Monty Python by two TV stations --WOR and WLVI!