This is an image of the surface of Io.
Click on image for full size
NASA
Can there be Life in the Environment of Io?
The moon Io is one of the only ones that has an atmosphere. But the environment of Io stills seems pretty unfriendly toward
life as we know it on earth.
Io is very small, so there is not much gravity. For this reason, the air which comes out of Io's volcanos always drifts away. When the volcano's stop erupting, Io has no more atmosphere.
With little atmosphere, there is nothing between the surface of Io and space itself. This means that the temperature above the surface is very cold. On the other hand, when lava comes out of the volcanos, the surface of Io is sometimes super-hot!
All together these things add up to a very unfriendly environment for life as we know it on earth.
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