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Io · Eruptive center

Surt

Icelandic volcano god.

What Surt is

Surt is an eruptive center — the active source of an eruption — on Io, centred at 45.4° N, 22.8° E.

Where the name comes from

Icelandic volcano god. The International Astronomical Union approved the name in 1979, 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
45.4° N, 22.8° E
Planetocentric, on Io
Name approved
1979
By the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature
Naming category
Iceland
Europe

What it would take to settle Surt

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 45.4° N, 22.8° E.

Settlement difficulty here
79.3/ 100
Harder than most of this world
Io overall
76.7
2.6 harder than the median site
Ranked
237th
of 260 named places on Io

What this spot has going for it is sunlight 70% of the sunlight the sunniest latitude on Io gets. What works against it is water same as everywhere else on this world.

Computed from Surt'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