Amaterasu Patera

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Amaterasu Patera, in a screenshot taken in NASA World Wind. Click to enlarge.
Amaterasu Patera, in a screenshot taken in NASA World Wind. Click to enlarge.

Amaretsu Petera 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 218 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.[1] The feature has darkened further since the first orbit around Jupiter by the Galileo spacecraft.[2] It is 100 kilometers in diameter and located at 37.7°N, 306.6°W. It was named after the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu.[3] To the north are Kinich Ahau Patera and Dazhbog Patera, and to the west are Manua Patera and Fuchi Patera.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ J. C. Pearl (1985). "Io: Amaterasu Patera is Hot". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 17: 691. 
  2. ^ Galileo. xtec.es. Retrieved on October 19, 2007.
  3. ^ IO NOMENCLATURE. lnfm1.sai.msu.su. Retrieved on October 19, 2007.
  4. ^ NASA World Wind 1.4. NASA Ames Research Center, 2007.