Pele (volcano)

Not to be confused with Mount Pelée.
Colour image of Io's trailing hemisphere, highlighting the large red ring around the volcano Pele

Pele is an active volcano on the surface of Jupiter's moon Io. It is located on Io's trailing hemisphere at 18°42′S 255°18′W / 18.7°S 255.3°W / -18.7; -255.3.[1] 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.[2] The discovery of the Pele plume on March 8, 1979 confirmed the existence of active volcanism on Io.[3] 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 ring circling the volcano resulting from sulfurous fallout from the volcanic plume.

  1. ^ "Pele". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
  2. ^ Geissler, P. E.; M. T. McMillan (2008). "Galileo observations of volcanic plumes on Io". Icarus. 197 (2): 505–18. Bibcode:2008Icar..197..505G. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2008.05.005.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Morabito1979 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).