Incredible ice volcano discovered on a dwarf planet
- Published
A picture of the icy volcano Ahuna Mons.
Take a look at this incredible ice volcano discovered on the dwarf planet Ceres.
Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to the Sun, and can be found in the Asteroid belt between planets Mars and Jupiter.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft discovered the five kilometres high ice volcano, called Ahuna Mons, on its mission to find out more about the dwarf planet.
Unlike the volcanoes we have on Earth, Ahuna Mons is a cryovolcano.
This means that instead of spewing out molten hot lava, it releases an icy, salty, mud-mix.
What Ahuna Mons looks like from above.
Previously scientists thought that cryovolcanoes only spewed out water and ice, however Ahuna Mons has shown that the icy volcanoes can spew out mud as well.
Ahuna Mons is thought to be the first volcano of its kind to be known to do this.
The Dawn spacecraft will carry on orbiting Ceres for around another year, and scientists hope it will uncover many more exciting discoveries about the dwarf planet.
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