The Prague Post - Giant ice volcanoes identified on Pluto

EUR -
AED 4.303228
AFN 81.923031
ALL 97.909719
AMD 450.171953
ANG 2.096976
AOA 1074.487442
ARS 1469.906879
AUD 1.794206
AWG 2.109136
AZN 1.999097
BAM 1.952812
BBD 2.36751
BDT 142.865081
BGN 1.956194
BHD 0.441689
BIF 3493.476377
BMD 1.171742
BND 1.499089
BOB 8.09162
BRL 6.38623
BSD 1.172657
BTN 100.430197
BWP 15.654757
BYN 3.837305
BYR 22966.148894
BZD 2.355312
CAD 1.60343
CDF 3381.648779
CHF 0.932675
CLF 0.028783
CLP 1104.543443
CNY 8.406137
CNH 8.419173
COP 4747.466217
CRC 592.777215
CUC 1.171742
CUP 31.051171
CVE 110.844284
CZK 24.62897
DJF 208.806749
DKK 7.460554
DOP 70.355427
DZD 151.979693
EGP 58.199616
ERN 17.576134
ETB 162.732892
FJD 2.633784
FKP 0.863301
GBP 0.861412
GEL 3.175237
GGP 0.863301
GHS 12.189053
GIP 0.863301
GMD 83.77774
GNF 10169.893454
GTQ 9.00046
GYD 245.007696
HKD 9.198218
HNL 30.661649
HRK 7.536664
HTG 153.898122
HUF 400.449921
IDR 19043.155705
ILS 3.925073
IMP 0.863301
INR 100.421007
IQD 1536.081823
IRR 49359.64357
ISK 143.011291
JEP 0.863301
JMD 187.151234
JOD 0.830746
JPY 171.786824
KES 151.507599
KGS 102.468664
KHR 4708.024801
KMF 492.716372
KPW 1054.5423
KRW 1612.756825
KWD 0.357885
KYD 0.977198
KZT 609.283796
LAK 25260.767597
LBP 105061.138103
LKR 352.496985
LRD 235.101302
LSL 20.85478
LTL 3.45985
LVL 0.708775
LYD 6.333688
MAD 10.551579
MDL 19.845889
MGA 5178.92726
MKD 61.542715
MMK 2460.081593
MNT 4204.866527
MOP 9.481136
MRU 46.568354
MUR 53.067974
MVR 18.04166
MWK 2033.178856
MXN 21.792886
MYR 4.981087
MZN 74.944607
NAD 20.85478
NGN 1795.296721
NIO 43.151062
NOK 11.826043
NPR 160.688716
NZD 1.952949
OMR 0.450535
PAB 1.171018
PEN 4.153238
PGK 4.916982
PHP 66.250171
PKR 333.35795
PLN 4.239311
PYG 9345.064305
QAR 4.265851
RON 5.076338
RSD 117.128528
RUB 91.628726
RWF 1694.34904
SAR 4.394767
SBD 9.768727
SCR 17.19417
SDG 703.628272
SEK 11.143369
SGD 1.500779
SHP 0.920805
SLE 26.369196
SLL 24570.854255
SOS 670.161186
SRD 43.733523
STD 24252.699675
SVC 10.259875
SYP 15235.145419
SZL 20.846682
THB 38.323037
TJS 11.262367
TMT 4.112815
TND 3.415494
TOP 2.744335
TRY 46.925742
TTD 7.955352
TWD 34.175011
TZS 3069.964632
UAH 48.977755
UGX 4209.559576
USD 1.171742
UYU 47.019267
UZS 14863.921153
VES 131.572362
VND 30626.414118
VUV 139.793453
WST 3.226231
XAF 655.821156
XAG 0.03215
XAU 0.000356
XCD 3.166692
XDR 0.815631
XOF 655.821156
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.385812
ZAR 20.926173
ZMK 10547.081684
ZMW 28.405116
ZWL 377.300539
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Giant ice volcanoes identified on Pluto
Giant ice volcanoes identified on Pluto

Giant ice volcanoes identified on Pluto

Strange lumpy terrain on Pluto unlike anything previously observed in the solar system indicates that giant ice volcanoes were active relatively recently on the dwarf planet, scientists said on Tuesday.

Text size:

The observation, which was made by analysing images taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, suggests that Pluto's interior was hotter much later than previously thought, according to a new study in the Nature Communications journal.

Rather than shooting lava into the air, ice volcanoes ooze a "thicker, slushy icy-water mix or even possibly a solid flow like glaciers", said Kelsi Singer, study author and planetary scientist at Colorado's Southwest Research Institute.

Ice volcanoes were already thought to be on several chilly moons in the solar system, but Pluto's "look so different from anything else we ever have seen", Singer told AFP.

"The features on Pluto are the only vast field of very large icy volcanoes and they have a unique texture of undulating terrain."

Singer said it was difficult to pinpoint exactly when the ice volcanoes were formed "but we believe they could be as young as a few hundred million years or even younger".

Unlike much of Pluto, the region does not have impact craters, which means "you cannot rule out that it is still in the process of forming even today", she added.

- 'Extremely significant' -

Lynnae Quick, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center specialised in ice volcanoes, said the findings were "extremely significant".

"They suggest that a small body like Pluto, which should have lost much of its internal heat long ago, was able to hold onto enough energy to facilitate widespread geological activity rather late in its history," she told AFP.

"These findings will cause us to re-evaluate the possibilities for the maintenance of liquid water on small, icy worlds that are far from the Sun."

David Rothery, professor of planetary geosciences at The Open University, said "we don't know what could provide the heat necessary to have caused these icy volcanoes to erupt".

The study said that one of the structures, the Wright Mons, is about five kilometres (three miles) high and 150 kilometres (90 miles) wide, and has around the same volume as one of Earth's biggest volcanoes -- the Mauna Loa in Hawaii.

Rothery told AFP he had been to Mauna Loa and "experienced how vast it is".

"This makes me realise how big Wright Mons is relative to Pluto, which is a much smaller world than our own."

The analysed images were taken when the New Horizons -- an unmanned nuclear-powered spacecraft about the size of a baby grand piano -- became the first spaceship to pass by Pluto in 2015.

It gave the greatest insight yet into Pluto, which was long considered the farthest planet from the Sun before it was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.

"I love the idea that we have so much left to learn about the solar system," Singer said.

"Every time we go somewhere new, we find new things that we didn't predict -- like giant, recently-formed ice volcanoes on Pluto."

P.Svatek--TPP