Mapping Io with Cross Correlation

Presenter: Elizabeth Marshall

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Scott Severson

Department: Physics & Astronomy

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1rt-Lb-XZyqATxeDKnxf0NeO-i7i3XZAx

Abstract:
Jupiter's moon Io is one of the most volcanically active bodies in the Solar System, but the changes in Io's dynamic surface are difficult to observe without the use of space telescopes or probes. We compared an image of Io taken in a past capstone project by Stephanie Church with a composite map of Io from Voyager images, from Crown et al. (1992). These images were cross-correlated in order to find the face of Io seen in the Church images, which was then compared to the face of Io according to the ephemeris, or location based on the time that the Church image was taken. We found that these locations were in the same hemisphere, suggesting that surface features of Io are present in the Church image.