WASHINGTON — A probe has found evidence of ice volcanoes on Pluto's surface, suggesting the dwarf planet may not be as inactive as scientists originally thought.
Reuters reports that when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto on July 14, it scanned the dwarf planet's surface and has been transmitting the data back to Earth.
The latest images that were received show what appears to be two ice mountains, or cryovolcanoes, each with a depression on top, near the bottom of Sputnik Planum—the planet's heart-shaped plain.
The volcanoes, dubbed Wright Mons and Piccard Mons, are each about a hundred miles across, and 2 and 3.5 miles high respectively, reports the Smithsonian.
Unlike Earth volcanoes that spew lava, the structures on Pluto would likely spew out an icy slush containing nitrogen, ammonia, and methane.
The presence of mountains and icy plains suggest a geologically active surface, according to Scientific American. This indicates the presence of an internal heat source, which is speculated to be originating from radioactive elements in the core.
With only 20% of New Horizons' data downlinked to Earth, scientists will have to wait for the remaining pictures and measurements from the July encounter to confirm cryovolcanism on the dwarf planet.
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