Pele is a very active volcano on the surface of Jupiter's moon Io. It is located on Io's trailing hemisphere at 18.7°S 255.3°W. A large, 300-kilometer (190 mi) tall volcanic plume has been observed at Pele by various spacecraft starting with Voyager 1 in 1979, though it has not been persistent. The discovery of the Pele plume on March 8, 1979 confirmed the existence of active volcanism on Io. The plume is associated with a lava lake at the northern end of the mountain Danube Planum. Pele is also notable for a persistent, large red circle that surrounds the volcano resulting from sulfurous fallout from the volcanic plume.
The volcanology of Io, a moon of Jupiter, is the scientific study of lava flows, volcanic pits, and volcanism on the surface of Io. Its volcanic activity was discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1 imaging scientist Linda Morabito. Observations of Io by passing spacecraft and Earth-based astronomers have revealed more than 150 active volcanoes. Up to 400 such volcanoes are predicted to exist based on these observations. Io's volcanism makes the satellite one of only four known currently volcanically active worlds in the Solar System.
Amaterasu Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. Its temperature was estimated on March 5, 1979, to be around 281 kelvins. It is one of the darkest features on Io, and the measurement of its thermal spectrum helped to support an anticorrelation established between albedo and temperature for Ionian hotspots. The feature has darkened further since the first orbit around Jupiter by the Galileo spacecraft. It is 100 kilometers in diameter and located at 38.1°N 306.5°W. It was named after the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu. To the north are Kinich Ahau Patera and Dazhbog Patera, and to the west are Manua Patera and Fuchi Patera.
Asha Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. It is approximately 108 kilometers in diameter and located at 8.84°S 225.69°W. It is named after asha, the Zoroastrian principle of Truth. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1979. Reiden Patera and Kami-Nari Patera can both be found to the west.
Kami-Nari Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. It is approximately 53 kilometers in diameter and is located at 8.7°S 235.08°W. It is named after the Japanese god of rolling thunder, Kami-Nari. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2000. Reiden Patera can be found to the south, and Asha Patera can be found to the east.
Kinich Ahau Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. It is about 45 kilometers in diameter and is located at 49.34°N 310.2°W. It is named after the Mayan sun god Kinich Ahau. Dazhbog Patera is located northeast, Amaterasu Patera is located south-southeast, and Manua Patera can be found southwest.
Ah Peku Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. It is 84 kilometers in diameter and is located at 10.3°N 107°W. It is named after the Mayan thunder god Ah Peku. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2006. Ah Peku Patera is located on the south end of Monan Mons, north of which is Monan Patera. The eruptive centers Amirani and Maui can be found northwest, as well as Maui Patera. Gish Bar Patera is located toward the northeast. Ah Peku Patera was first detected by the spacecraft Galileo's Solid State Imager and Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer. It is considered an active hot spot.
Gish Bar Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. It is 106.3 by 115.0 kilometers and 9,600 km2 in area. It is located at 16.18°N 90.26°W. It is named after the Babylonian sun god Gish Bar. Its name was approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1997. It is located at the southern base of Gish Bar Mons, an 11-kilometer-high mountain. To the northeast is Skythia Mons, and to the east is Monan Mons, at the north and south ends of which are Monan Patera and Ah Peku Patera.
Svarog Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. It is 124 kilometers in diameter and is located at 48.66°S 265.74°W. It is named after the Russian smith god Svarog. Its name was approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1979. North of Svarog Patera is Lyrcea Planum, north of which is Babbar Patera. To the south is Silpium Mons, and to the east is Hermes Mensa. To the southeast are Pyerun Patera and Epaphus Mensa. Svarog Patera is a Voyager spacecraft-detected hot spot.
Viracocha Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. It is about 59 kilometers in diameter and is located at 61.77°S 280.09°W. It is named after the Quechua creator god Viracocha. The name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1979. Viracocha Patera is a Voyager spacecraft-detected hot spot. To Viracocha Patera's east-northeast is Mithra Patera, and to the northeast is the mountain Silpium Mons.
Pillan Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. It is located at 12.34°S 243.25°W, south of Pillan Mons and west of Reiden Patera. It is named after the Araucanian thunder, fire, and volcano god. Its name was approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1997.
Silpium Mons is a mountain on Jupiter's moon Io. It is 5.6 kilometers in height, 113 kilometers in length, and 79.7 kilometers in width. It covers an area of 7073 km2. It is a striated ridge, meaning it is an elevated structure dominated by one or more prominent linear or arcurate rises. It is named after a location in Greece where the mythological Io died of grief. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1979. It is located at 52.71°S 272.34°W, south of Svarog Patera, north of Mithra Patera, and northeast of Viracocha Patera. Its proximity to Svarog and Viracocha Paterae has been suggested to be evidence for a structural relationship between mountains and calderas on Io.
Amirani is an active volcano on Jupiter's moon Io, the inner-most of the Galilean Moons. It is located on Io's leading hemisphere at 24.46°N 114.68°W. The volcano is responsible for the largest active lava flow in the entire Solar System, with recent flows dwarfing those of even other volcanos on Io.
Tupan Patera is an active volcano on Jupiter's moon Io. It is located on Io's anti-Jupiter hemisphere at 18.73°S 141.13°W. Tupan consists of a volcanic crater, known as a patera, 79 kilometers across and 900 meters deep. The volcano was first seen in low-resolution observations by the two Voyager spacecraft in 1979, but volcanic activity was not seen at this volcano until June 1996 during the Galileo spacecraft's first orbit. Following this first detection of near-infrared thermal emission and subsequent detections by Galileo during the next few orbits, this volcano was formally named Tupan Patera, after the thunder god of the Tupí-Guaraní indigenous peoples in Brazil, by the International Astronomical Union in 1997.
Tawhaki Patera is an active volcano on Jupiter's moon Io. It is located on Io's leading hemisphere at 3.32°N 76.18°W within the equatorial plains of western Media Regio. Tawhaki is an Ionian patera, a type of volcanic crater similar to a caldera, 49.8 kilometers (30.9 mi) wide and 550 meters (1,800 ft) deep.
The exploration of Io, Jupiter's third-largest moon, began with its discovery in 1610 and continues today with Earth-based observations and visits by spacecraft to the Jupiter system. Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was the first to record an observation of Io on January 8, 1610, though Simon Marius may have also observed Io at around the same time. During the 17th century, observations of Io and the other Galilean satellites helped with the measurement of longitude by map makers and surveyors, with validation of Kepler's Third Law of planetary motion, and with measurement of the speed of light. Based on ephemerides produced by astronomer Giovanni Cassini and others, Pierre-Simon Laplace created a mathematical theory to explain the resonant orbits of three of Jupiter's moons, Io, Europa, and Ganymede. This resonance was later found to have a profound effect on the geologies of these moons. Improved telescope technology in the late 19th and 20th centuries allowed astronomers to resolve large-scale surface features on Io as well as to estimate its diameter and mass.
Thor is an active volcano on Jupiter's moon Io. It is located on Io's anti-Jupiter hemisphere at 39.15°N 133.14°W. A major eruption with high thermal emission and a large, volcanic plume was observed during a Galileo flyby on August 6, 2001, when the spacecraft flew through the outer portions of the plume allowing for direct sampling. The eruption continued into Galileo's next flyby in October 2001. As seen during high-resolution images taken during the eruption, Thor consists of a series of dark lava flows emanating from a set of nearby volcanic depressions. Before the eruption, the area consisted of red-brown plains, composed of irradiated sulfur, typical of Io's mid- to high-northern latitudes and a set of yellow flows, possibly consisting of sulfur or silicate flows covered by diffuse sulfur deposits. During the New Horizons encounter in February 2007, Thor was still active, with the spacecraft observing thermal emission in the near-infrared and a volcanic plume at the volcano.
Thomagata Patera is a volcano on Jupiter's moon Io. It is located on Io's anti-Jupiter hemisphere at 25.67°N 165.94°W, to the east of the nearby active volcanoes Volund and Zamama. Thomagata is a kidney-shaped Ionian patera, a type of volcanic crater similar to a caldera, 56 kilometers (35 mi) long, 26 km (16 mi) wide, and 1.2–1.6 km (0.7–1.0 mi) deep. The volcano is currently inactive as a thermal hotspot has never been observed at Thomagata and the bright floor of the patera suggests that it is cold enough for sulfur dioxide and sulfur to condense. Thomagata is located near the center of a low, 100 km (62 mi) wide mesa. The edge of the mesa rises 200 meters (660 ft) above the surrounding plains, however the slope up to the edge of Thomagata Patera is unknown. If the floor of the patera is at the same level as the surrounding plains, the western slope of the mesa would have a grade of 2°. The morphology of this mesa and the pattern of faded lava flows along its slopes radiating away from Thomagata suggest that Thomagata Patera and the mesa that surrounds it may be a shield volcano, also called a tholus on Io. The irregular margin of the mesa and the lack of debris at the base of its basal scarp suggest that it was modified by sulfur dioxide sapping.
