New Delhi, India

In the entire Solar System, the most volcanic celestial body is Jupiter's moon Io. Extensive lava flows on this moon and is spread across its surface. There are nearly 400 volcanoes on it. 

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However, in a new study, scientists have found that this geographical situation on the moon is not because of a global and moonwide ocean of magma that flows beneath the surface. 

An international team of researchers used images snapped by NASA's Juno spacecraft and also looked into the moon's historical data and gravitational measurements about tidal deformations of Io to determine that the volcanoes of the moon are powered by scattered magma chambers that are present in the solid mantle. 

The new findings have countered the earlier theories, which had said that the volcanoes of Io are powered by the mostly solid mantle of the moon. 

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According to scientists, magma oceans are present in different worlds, especially during their earlier formation. This also includes our own Moon.

"Since Morabito's discovery, planetary scientists have wondered how the volcanoes were fed from the lava underneath the surface," said space physicist Scott Bolton, who is from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

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"Was there a shallow ocean of white-hot magma fuelling the volcanoes, or was their source more localised? We knew data from Juno's two very close flybys could give us some insights on how this tortured moon actually worked," he added. 

All about volcanic eruptions on Io

Jupiter's moon Io circles the planet every 42.5 hours and gets pulled and pushed by the massive gravitational forces present in the planet's elliptical orbit, which reshapes the moon constantly. 

This phenomenon is called tidal flexing and leads to the production of a huge amount of internal heat. 

In the new study, the deformations mentioned by the scientists are not enough to support the idea of the presence of a global magma ocean. 

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"This constant flexing creates immense energy, which literally melts portions of Io's interior," Bolton said.

"If Io has a global magma ocean, we knew the signature of its tidal deformation would be much larger than a more rigid, mostly solid interior," he added.

The lava flows and eruptions on Jupiter's moon cover hundreds of kilometres of area. 

Speaking about the findings, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) astronautical engineer Ryan Park said, "It has implications for our understanding of other moons, such as Enceladus and Europa, and even exoplanets and super-Earths." 

(With inputs from agencies)