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Nature 421, 30-31 (2 January 2003) | doi:10.1038/421030a
Planetary science: Sodium at Io
Donald M. Hunten
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Abstract
It has been known for some years that Jupiter's satellite Io has sodium as a component of its atmosphere. The source, it now seems, is sodium chloride emitted by volcanoes on Io's surface.
Io, the innermost of Jupiter's four Galilean satellites, is anomalous in various respects. One curiosity is its atmosphere, and the 'plasma torus' of ionized matter through which the planet orbits.
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