Description

Io, a moon of Jupiter, has a substantial presence of volcanoes, volcanic pits and lava flows on its surface. Volcanic activity on the moon was first discovered in 1979 by Linda Morabito, an imaging scientist working on Voyager 1. Observations of Io by passing spacecraft and Earth-based astronomers have revealed more than 150 active volcanoes. As of 2024, up to 400 such volcanoes are predicted to exist based on these observations. Io's volcanism makes the satellite one of only five known currently volcanically or cryovolcanically active worlds in the Solar System