Scientists Spot Signs of Huge Ice Volcanoes on Pluto – CNET [CNET]

March 29, 2022 Amanda Kooser technology

plutonasa — Pluto as seen in an enhanced color view from NASA’s New Horizons.

NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Pluto, the not-a-full-planet dwarf planet, has used volcanoes to give itself a makeover on its surface. A team of scientists spotted evidence of relatively recent ice volcanoes on Pluto, advancing our understanding of the dwarf planet’s surface-sculpting activities.

NASA’s New Horizons mission sent back some fantastic views of Pluto during a 2015 flyby. The spacecraft’s data suggested the presence of cryovolcanism (an icy version of our familiar hot Earth volcanism).

NASA had eyed a suspected Mauna Loa-size cryovolcano on Pluto called Wright Mons, saying “it would be the largest such feature discovered in the outer solar system” if confirmed. A study published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday suggests NASA’s hunch was right. Planetary scientist Kelsi Singer of the Southwest Research Institute is lead author of the study.

Pluto’s ice volcanoes are impressive, with some reaching 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) in height. They’re found in an area with few impact craters, hinting the volcanoes spewed out slush that reshaped the surface relatively recently in the dwarf planet’s history.