NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has sent back a beautiful image of one of two potential cryovolcanoes spotted on the surface of Pluto.
This image, taken by the New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015, shows a possible cryovolcano on Pluto. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.
This feature is huge, approximately 90 miles (150 km) across and 2.5 miles (4 km) high.
New Horizons scientists named it the Wright Mons after the world-famous Wright brothers.
If it is in fact a cryovolcano – an exotic volcano that erupts volatiles such as water, ammonia or methane, instead of molten rock, it would be the largest such feature discovered in the outer Solar System.
The researchers are intrigued by the sparse distribution of red material 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 is relatively young in geological terms.
Wright Mons. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.
New Horizons is currently 3.29 billion miles (5.3 billion km) from Earth and 137.6 million miles (221.4 million km) beyond Pluto. The spacecraft is healthy and all systems are operating normally.
