A gas torus is a toroidal cloud of gas or plasma that encircles a planet or moon. In the Solar System, gas tori tend to be produced by the interaction of a satellite's atmosphere with the magnetic fie
Jupiter's gas toruses generated by Io (green) and Europa (blue)
Io is the innermost and second smallest of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. Slightly larger than Earth's Moon, Io is the fourth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System, has the highest densit
Gas torus
…torus, which is produced by the ionization of roughly 1 ton per second of oxygen and sulfur from the tenuous atmosphere of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io. Before being ionized, these particles are part of a neutral torus, also centered on the orbit of Io. Energetic particle observations also suggest the…
Enhanced color image of Io from the Galileo spacecraft, taken in 1999.
Voyager 1 mosaic covering Io's south polar region. This includes two of Io's ten highest peaks, the Euboea Montes at upper extreme left and Haemus Mons at bottom.
Enhanced-color Galileo image showing a dark spot (just lower-left of center, interrupting the red ring of short-chain sulfur allotropes deposited by Pele) produced by a major eruption at Pillan Patera in 1997
Io as seen by JunoCam on 3 February 2024. Its night side is illuminated by the reflected sunlight from Jupiter.