Tvashtar Paterae

Animation of eruption from Tvashtar Paterae, taken from imagery from the New Horizons probe in 2007

Two images taken by Gallileo over the course of three months showing the shifting regions of lava flow. The Galileo probe observed a lava curtain erupting from the small patera in the centre of the image, and the lava lake from the larger one above it.

Tvashtar Paterae compose an active volcanic region of Jupiter's moon Io located near the moon's north pole. It is a series of paterae, or volcanic craters. It is named after Tvashtar, the Hindu god of blacksmiths. Tvashtar was studied by the Galileo spacecraft over several years. During this time, a 25 km long, 1 to 2 km high curtain of lava was seen to erupt from one patera, a lake of superheated silicate lava erupted in the largest patera, and finally a plume of gas burst out, rising 385 km above the moon and blanketing areas as far away as 700 km.

An eruption on Tvashtar on February 26 2007 was photographed by the New Horizons probe as it went past Jupiter en route to Pluto. The probe observed an enormous 290 km (180 miles) high plume from the volcano, with an as-yet unexplained filamentary structure made clearly visible by the background light from the sun.

See also

• Volcanoes on other planetary bodies