Possible Ice Volcano on Pluto

Everyone is acquainted with the Volcano. They know it emits hot lava, spits fire. But the astronauts who faced the volcano on PLUTO (dwarf-planet) have some different idea. It is something very different than what we're familiar with here on Earth.

The United States government agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is cognizant about the possibility of ice volcanoes on PLUTO since last year, but a new image has released on Thursday gives scientists a closer look at one of the potential sites for such exotic activity.

The New Horizons spacecraft might already be heading for a Kuiper belt object farther than Pluto, but it continues to give us a closer view of the dwarf planet. Some of the latest photos it sent back taken during the probe's closest flyby in July 2015 show what NASA scientists believe could be one of its icy volcanoes. The land formation, known as Wright Mons, was informally named by the New Horizons team in honor of the Wright brothers, and it's located at the bottom of Pluto's famous heart-shaped region. At about 90 miles (150 kilometers) across and 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) high, the Wright Mons is enormous. If NASA confirms that it is an ice volcano, then "it would be the largest such feature discovered in the outer solar system."

The Ice volcanoes, also known as CRYOVOLCANOES, kick out a slush containing ice, nitrogen, ammonia and methane, as opposed to the molten rock spit out by Earth volcanoes. Mission scientists are intrigued by the sparse distribution of red material in the image and wonder why it is not more widespread. Also perplexing is that there is only one identified impact crater on Wright Mons itself, telling scientists that the surface was created relatively latterly. This turn may indicate that Wright Mons was volcanically active late in Pluto’s history. 

There are still plenty of discoveries to be made and new mysteries to be solved as NASA works through the heaps of data and images coming back from deep into space.

Courtesy: NASA

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