Does Pluto have ice volcanoes?
- Published
Two possible ice volcanoes have been identified on the surface of Pluto.
They were revealed by images sent to Earth from the New Horizons probe, which flew past the distant dwarf planet in July.
The mountains are several km high and tens of km across and each has what looks like dips in the tops.
Unlike Earth's volcanoes that spew molten rock, Pluto's volcanoes - if that is what they are - would most likely erupt an icy slush.
It's thought the substance could be made up of water, nitrogen, ammonia or methane.
Scientists still need to do further work to confirm their volcano idea.
The theory was presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences, where the mission team is presenting over 50 research reports from the flyby.
- Published25 July 2015
- Published14 July 2015
- Published18 July 2015
- Published20 July 2015
- Published16 July 2015
- Published15 July 2015
- Published14 July 2015
- Published14 July 2015