Viracocha Patera Explained

Viracocha Patera is a patera, or a complex crater with scalloped edges, on Jupiter's moon Io. It is about 61 kilometers in diameter and is located at -61.75°N -280.07°W. It is named after the Quechua creator god Viracocha. The name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1979.[1] Viracocha Patera is a Voyager spacecraft-detected hot spot.[2] To Viracocha Patera's east-northeast is Mithra Patera, and to the northeast is the mountain Silpium Mons.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Viracocha Patera . Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature . 2019-10-07 .
  2. Web site: Hot Spots on Io: Initial Results from Galileo's Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer . trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov . October 20, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110719202636/http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/22712/1/97-1236.pdf . July 19, 2011 . dead . mdy-all.
  3. NASA World Wind 1.4. NASA Ames Research Center, 2007.