The Keck II Adaptive Optics system and the NIRC2 camera provide a unique facility for high angular resolution imaging and spectroscopy in the near infrared. In this paper, we present the result of a unique project to map the entire surface of Io in the thermal infrared (Lp band centered at 3.8 μm). This project was undertaken by a team from the W. M. Keck Observatory and UC Berkeley to illustrate the power of this instrumentation. The 75-milliarcsec-resolution images, corresponding to ~200 km of linear spatial resolution on Io, have been combined to build a thermal infrared map of the entire satellite. We have identified 26 hot spots including one that was undetected by the Galileo mission. A movie and a Java applet featuring a volcanically active rotating satellite were created.

Date Published: 13 February 2003
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 4834, Discoveries and Research Prospects from 6- to 10-Meter-Class Telescopes II, (13 February 2003); doi: 10.1117/12.457108

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4834:
Discoveries and Research Prospects from 6- to 10-Meter-Class Telescopes II
Puragra Guhathakurta, Editor(s)