CRYOVOLCANO: The biggest ice volcano in the solar system
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The most detailed image yet of a giant mountain on Pluto, which is suspected to be an ice volcano, has been released by Nasa. It is one of two potential cryovolcanoes spotted on the surface of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015. At about 90 miles (150km) across and 2.5 miles (4km) high, this feature is enormous
If it is in fact a volcano, as suspected, it would be the largest such feature discovered in the outer solar system. 'These are big mountains with a large hole in their summit, and on Earth that generally means one thing — a volcano,' said Oliver White, a New Horizons researcher.
Mission scientists are baffled by the sparse distribution of red material in the image and wonder why it is not more widespread.
Source: Daily Mail
Fri 15 Jan 2016 at 10:51