Highest-resolution image of Gish Bar Patera, acquired by Galileo during an encounter with Io in October 2001

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°11′N 90°16′W / 16.18°N 90.26°W / 16.18; -90.26.[1] It is named after the Babylonian sun god Gish Bar. Its name was approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1997.[1] 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.[2]

The NASA spacecraft Galileo has detected volcanic activity in Gish Bar Patera's past, particularly in 1996, and a new eruption was detected by Galileo's near-infrared mapping spectrometer in August 2001.[3] The western section of the patera is mostly green, with a few bright spots, whereas the eastern section is mostly orange. The active northwestern region of Gish Bar Patera has a mottled floor from several eruptions. The patera's flows may be composed of silicates.[4]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gish Bar Patera.
  1. ^ a b "Gish Bar Patera". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
  2. ^ NASA World Wind 1.4. NASA Ames Research Center, 2007.
  3. ^ "Recent Eruption at Gish Bar Patera on Io". pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu. Archived from the original on November 11, 2007. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
  4. ^ "Gish Bar Patera, Io: geology and volcanic activity, 1996–2001" (PDF). www.lpi.usra.edu. Retrieved October 20, 2007.
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