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Io · Eruptive center

Tonatiuh

Aztec sun god.

What Tonatiuh is

Tonatiuh is an eruptive center — the active source of an eruption — on Io, centred at 52.0° N, 77.0° W.

Where the name comes from

Aztec sun god. The International Astronomical Union approved the name in 2023, under the theme it applies to every eruptive center on Io. Of the 8 features of this class catalogued on Io, the naming categories run Japan (1), Greek (1), Germany (1), Georgia (1).

Feature class
the active source of an eruption
Diameter
Not catalogued
Coordinates
52.0° N, 77.0° W
Planetocentric, on Io
Name approved
2023
By the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature
Naming category
Aztec
North America

What it would take to settle Tonatiuh

Io scores 76.7 as a world. That number is the same for every square metre of it — but sunlight, water, radiation and the ground under your feet are not. This is the same question asked at 52.0° N, 77.0° W.

Settlement difficulty here
79.8/ 100
Harder than most of this world
Io overall
76.7
3.1 harder than the median site
Ranked
245th
of 260 named places on Io

What this spot has going for it is sunlight 62% of the sunlight the sunniest latitude on Io gets. What works against it is water same as everywhere else on this world.

Computed from Tonatiuh's catalogued latitude, longitude and feature class — 84% of the model's weight had a basis here, and 2 axes were dropped as not applicable to Io (earth link, known ground). Gravity, pressure, delta-v and distance from the Sun are the same everywhere on Io and are already counted in the world's own index, not again here.

What this cannot see: elevation. Slope, local shadowing and the polar “peaks of eternal light” — ridge tops near the poles of a barely tilted world that catch sun almost continuously while a crater floor kilometres away never does — need a terrain model this does not have. Where a real mission targets a pole, that is usually why.

What is next to it

The largest eruptive center features on Io